Dallas City Council members granted a controversial rezoning Wednesday to allow a group home on South Polk Street to continue operations as a multifamily dwelling in a single-family neighborhood.
A code complaint was filed by a neighbor last summer after operators remodeled the nine-bedroom home into individual units for formerly unhoused military veterans, prompting applicant Phillip Mitchell to request a zoning change to multifamily.
Prior to the remodel, the group home was legally permitted in single-family zoning under a designation for handicapped tenants, explained Assistant Planning Director Andreea Udrea.
“It’s my understanding that at some point, they decided to improve the conditions and mistakenly added bathrooms, and that’s what threw them out of compliance,” Udrea said.
City staff recommended denial, and the City Plan Commission approved the rezoning in a split vote in September.
South Polk Street Zoning Change
District 1 Councilman Chad West, who represents the area on the east side of South Polk Street between Cascade Avenue and Elmhurst Place, supported the rezoning.
“This zoning change will allow them to operate in compliance under multifamily rules with deed restrictions to prevent them from — if they ever tear it down or try to add more density or what have you — [taking] advantage of the zoning change beyond what their current use is,” West said. “There’s a code issue here, because a lot of the work was done outside of permitting, and there’s a zoning issue.”
The code issue lives on, West explained, but the decision Wednesday to modify the zoning allows the veterans to stay in their homes and brings them into compliance with the authorized use.
Two neighborhood associations surround the facility. One supports the group home; the other did not take a position, West said. A couple of individual neighbors had concerns about the parking requirements.
The home at 1608 South Polk St. has seven parking spaces but is required to have nine. It’s a non-issue, Mitchell said, because the tenants are elderly and disabled, and none have their own vehicles.
Unanimous Vote to Rezone
Udrea said staff recommended denial in part because the West Oak Cliff Area Plan called for measures to allow gentle density in certain neighborhoods — and this rezoning was incompatible with the plan.
West, who championed WOCAP, said he was conflicted about the decision but ultimately the deciding factor was allowing military veterans to remain housed.
“We don’t want to encourage people to do renovations and change their use outside of the guidelines of a proper permit,” he said. “I had to weigh the benefit of us having this housing for formerly homeless veterans against that. The applicant is doing the right thing by trying to get into compliance now. For me that outweighs the other side, which is that I don’t like seeing these projects done without working within the guides of the city.”
The group home will have to apply for permits when upgrading and comply with city codes, Udrea said.
