When the polls closed on Saturday, May 6, Kathy Stewart was ready to roll.
Her first order of business as the council member elected outright to represent Lake Highlands was no small task: take a deep dive into the city budget and housing crisis.
Stewart sat through a marathon council meeting on June 14 with fellow rookie Councilman Zarin Gracey, and the pair were scheduled to be sworn into office Tuesday alongside Mayor Eric Johnson and a full slate of returning incumbents. Stewart missed the inauguration ceremony because she tested positive for COVID-19 but joined the Dallas City Council remotely for Wednesday’s briefings on the budget, community survey, and 2024 bond election.
Stewart watched last week as her predecessor, longtime District 10 Councilman Adam McGough, fought unsuccessfully to halt a controversial mixed-income housing development, Cypress Creek at Forest Lane. She also sat through hours of debate over short-term rentals.
The Dallas City Council recesses during the month of July, but expect to see Kathy Stewart, reading glasses in hand, at 1500 Marilla St. poring over documents and meeting with department directors.
Kathy Stewart Elected to Dallas City Council
Stewart earned McGough’s endorsement early in the race and was viewed as a frontrunner, picking up several major endorsements, including that of the MetroTex Association of Realtors and The Real Estate Council Political Action Committee.
Her challengers — Brian Hasenbauer, Chris Carter, and Sirrano Keith Baldeo — collectively brought in 1,836 votes during the May 6 general election. That’s less than half of the 3,879 ballots cast for Stewart.
“We get used to polls in national elections so everybody knows who’s ahead, but polls are expensive, so we didn’t know what to expect,” Stewart told daltxrealestate.com in an exclusive interview last week. “I was very surprised and grateful to see that number.”
Although she didn’t get to vote on short-term rentals, Stewart said she thought the council’s vote to approve the “Keep It Simple Solution” was “a good result.”
The measure bans STRs in single-family neighborhoods but allows them by right in multi-family districts. Enforcement is set to begin in December.
As for the Cypress Creek at Forest Lane project, Stewart said it has a lot of limitations.
“I think when they say it’s a high-income area … I really disagreed with some of the information that was being shared with the council,” she said. “If you look at the proximity of Hamilton Park and Northwood Estates, those are great neighborhoods but I would not label them as high-income.”
District 10 Projects And Housing
Stewart, who has lived in Dallas with her husband Robb since 1980, said her areas of focus during her two-year term include a Phase Two Master Plan for Forest Lane and Audelia Road and the Skillman Street Streetscape Plan.
The Dallas City Council empaneled a task force to review potential projects for a 2024 bond election that will fund $1 billion in streets, parks, storm drainage, economic development, housing, and critical facilities.
“We had a lot of improvement in the 2017 bond, but there’s more to go,” Stewart said.
And when it comes to housing, Stewart has a lot to say.
A Dallas staff report issued in 2021 shows that District 10 has 36,000 “low-income units,” which is significantly more than other areas of the city, Stewart said.
“To me, any conversation about affordable housing starts with that piece of information,” she said. “When you have that affordable housing conversation with respect to District 10, I need people to understand what we have, the high density of what we have at Forest and Audelia going west to LBJ. We have a lot of low-income housing.”
Additional affordable housing is being planned along the Forest Lane-Greenville Avenue corridor. There’s Cypress Creek at Forest Lane, Dallas County’s Cottonwood Forest project at Forest Lane and Stults Road, and permanent supportive housing for the homeless at Vantage Point Drive.
“You’ve got three projects within about a mile of each other,” Stewart said. “You’re putting that into a district that already has a lot. I think I have to advocate for my district and say, ‘You’ve got to slow down a bit.’ Maybe we’ll bring in a [Public Improvement District] along Forest Lane, but let’s hit the pause button for District 10, because I feel like we have a lot.”
The new council member, who previously served as executive director of Uptown Dallas Inc., said she plans to spend July studying the city budget and processes.
“July will be my time to prepare,” she said. “Have you seen this budget? It’s 700-and-something pages. Everyone says we’re going to be drinking from a fire hose.”
She’s also prepared to do a lot of listening.
“You’ve got to motivate your community to advocate and speak out for what they see the need is,” Stewart said. “That’s what matters to city staff and to the council members as you go through the process. Is this just what the council member is thinking in her head or is it supported by the community and coming from grassroots information?”
