I have been to many a neighborhood meeting on rezoning and housing, and 99 percent of the time homeowners are not happy. After all, when you have half a million dollars or more invested in your home — and when you pay double-digit annual property tax rates — you guard your investment like Fort Knox.
The “The Friends of Forest Lane” community meeting I attended on August 31 at ED Walker Middle School was one of the most contentious homeowner meetings I have ever attended. The auditorium was filled with approximately 250 people — so many it was hard to social distance. (I recorded the meeting if you don’t believe me.)
There were boos, hisses, and there was shouting. The audience appeared to send their HOA Board president, Linda Vallala, out the door. They complained their speakers did not get enough time. It was baptism by fire for newly elected councilwoman Gay Donnell Willis, who tried to keep order and dodged many a barb. “You said you wanted to represent homeowners when you campaigned,” one person shouted. “You don’t care about us, you care more about the developers.”
That’s why I was aghast that the Dallas Morning News would write an editorial calling this neighborhood NIMBYs. (I wonder if they even had an editor at the meeting.) In case you didn’t see it: “NIMBY on Forest Lane: Dallas has to reject anti-growth posture“:
As so often happens in established areas, there is considerable opposition here. Worries about traffic, privacy and the other usual bugaboos are being raised.
Looking at the plans for this development, we think neighbors should instead welcome it. The site has plenty of room to accommodate these homes. The city will benefit both from the land sale and from the taxes the new homes will add to the pot. A fallow piece of property will be returned to productive use. And families who want to live in the area will have additional choices for homes.
Is it perfect? It is not. The likely prices of the homes reflect an economic reality that is pushing the middle class out of the city. But a single development cannot reverse the economic forces that created this market. What can reverse it, over time, is increased housing supply. We need more places for people to live who want to live in Dallas.
The development has no overall design specifications or requirements, so whatever is built will be a hodge podge of zero-lot-line homes, another concern voiced at the meeting.
Usually, I am pro-development because we need to grow, not stagnate. But the 3.5 acres on Forest Lane are unique. The council vote is also a bellwether of how our new Dallas City Council will try to shape Dallas and neighborhoods going forward.
New council members gave lip service to neighborhoods while campaigning. We will see how serious they were. The crowd at ED Walker believed Willis was siding with the developer. However, Willis insisted she was learning the ropes of a case she inherited. Some homeowners even accused her of relying on the developer’s Winstead attorney more than the city’s.
This is also insight into how the city mismanages real estate deals because the proposed development walks all over the area’s deed restrictions, which have to be enforced privately. In fact, one attorney homeowner told me the deal may not even close if a title company believes the deed restrictions are strong enough to invite lawsuits.
A Contentious History
This site has been dormant for at least 10 years. In 1962, a Korean Church was built on the plat. However, the church moved to Plano in 2010. Using bond funds, the City of Dallas bought the parcel for $3.6 million ($2.6 million for acquisition, $360,000 for a library design, $76,610 to demo the church, about $100,000 for land testing) to construct a new neighborhood library. But because the city lacked the funds for construction, and with the neighborhood’s blessing, funds from the bond package were diverted to a new library at Vickery Meadow. Because it is such a charming and beloved library, the neighborhood decided to improve and expand the Preston Royal library about a mile away with funds used from the sale of this property.
Former City Councilwoman Jennifer Staubach Gates also explored other uses for the property. The neighborhood shot down plans for a dog park lickety-split during another contentious meeting. I recall speaking with her about this proposal and other land uses back in 2018. Gates even looked at building a neighborhood farmers market, which city zoning precluded.
The property went out for auction first in January of 2019, and the minimum bid was not met. Different real estate market, of course. In May 2019, however, the 3.5-acre parcel was sold (pending zoning change). The winning company, Eglington Development, paid $3,850,000 or a little over a million an acre.
Higher-Density Housing on a Busy Road
Forest Park Development is requesting a zoning change to build 26 single-family residences from 2,800 – 3,100 square feet in size and two- or three-stories tall with a $1 million to 1.2 million price tag. The community will be gated with access at Nuestra, Quincy, and Forest Lane. Originally, the developer requested 33 zero-lot-line homes and says he made multiple revisions and concessions to the neighborhood in three separate meetings.
The developer claims that the parcel has been out for bid once before where no one wanted it, and because of its location on a busy intersection, the property is well suited to higher-density housing.
Because of the private deed restrictions on the property, multiple homeowners are threatening to sue the city should the zoning change be approved.
Many Realtors Involved on Both Sides
Linda Vallala, president of the Melshire Estates Home Owners Association board, is an agent with Ebby Halliday. Janelle Alcantara is an agent, as is Pogir, both with Briggs Freeman Sotheby’s International Realty. Alcantara and Pogir both spoke at the Dallas City Council meeting in opposition to the zoning change.
The city, too, was split: the Dallas Plan Commission recommended approval, subject to revisions. But city staff recommended denial.
“The applicant has proposed a shared access development that proposes lot sizes that are only about 29% of the lot size requirements of the existing R-16(A) Single Family District for the site and the adjacent properties,” city staff notes. “R-16(A) lot size requirement is 16,000 square feet, while the applicant proposes to develop lots that are minimum 4,600 square feet. Since the site is surrounded by single-family homes with a minimum 16,000 sq. ft lots, Staff does not believe this request is compatible with the surrounding neighborhoods.”
Against the wishes of her constituents, Councilwoman Willis supported the zoning change.
And the majority of the Dallas City Council voted with her. Her reasoning: the development is the best solution for the property, not market-rate multi-million dollar homes as Pogir suggested when he spoke. One of the highest sales in the area at $424 per square foot took place on a lot adjacent to this parcel, he pointed out: each lot could potentially sell and produce a $1.5 to at least $2 million property.
Council members were being prudent. If they let this opportunity go, said others around the horseshoe, Lord knows what will happen on that lot — likely something worse than a smattering of million-dollar, zero-lot-line homes. And as other council members pointed out, the property has already flopped on the market.
Of course, some speakers want to get those library funds moving. Without the rezoning, the sale of the lot will not happen or be delayed. Without the sale, the Preston Royal Dallas Public Library cannot be improved and expanded.
Still, 95 percent of the neighboring Melshire Estates residents voiced their opposition to the matter.
At 5:20 p.m., Dallas City Council voted 13-2 in favor of the zoning change.
The action permitted the sale to proceed. Council members Cara Mendelsohn and Jaynie Schultz voted against it. Mendelsohn said she believes it’s important to listen to neighborhoods. Schultz laid out her reasoning in a thoughtful, two-out-of-three-strikes litmus test, knowing full well how opposed the neighborhood was to this rezoning. But she ended with a somewhat stern warning, indicating this may be the very best deal possible: “Be careful what you wish for.”
Update: The neighborhood now has 408 signatures on it’s website, Friends of Forest Lane
