Dallas City Council Approves Elm Thicket/Northpark Zoning Changes

After years of debate, the Dallas City Council Wednesday approved zoning changes that supporters hope will help preserve the character and history of the Elm Thicket/Northpark neighborhood near Dallas Love Field. 

The changes approved include limiting the maximum lot coverage of single-and-multi-story homes in the neighborhood to 40%. Councilman Jesse Moreno, who represents the neighborhood, said the lot coverage for many of the original homes in the area was 25-to-30%. The current limit in much of Dallas is 45%. 

Moreno made the motion to change the maximum lot coverage proposed from 35% for multi-story homes and 40% for single-story homes to 40% for both single and multi-story homes.

“(It’s) not a save-all, fix-all solution,” Moreno said of the changes. “It’s a step in the right direction. It’s a nod to the history of Elm Thicket…this has been in the making for years, and there is no reason to delay now. In fact, this is a compromise.”

“No future builder will be hurt. They’ll be simply asked to operate, some for the first time, in a more limited way,” Councilwoman Jaynie Schultz added. “There remain thousands and thousands of homes in Dallas that will inevitably be torn down, and builders and investors can have their pick of size and budget – pretty much whatever you want in Dallas.”

Councilwoman Cara Mendelsohn, though, took issue with how long the process took. 

“Everyone knew 15 years ago that we would be sitting here, that we would be having this problem, and, frankly, nothing was done, and that is an indictment for this entire city hall,” Mendelsohn said. 

The historically-Black neighborhood, bordered by Inwood, Lovers, Bluffview, Lemmon, and Mockingbird, is an about 521 acre-area likely founded as a Freedman’s Town. 

City data shows the neighborhood was 62% African American in 2000, and that dropped to 32% of the neighborhood population by 2014. 

Andrea Gilles, assistant director of the city’s planning and urban design office, said she doesn’t think it’s too late for the zoning changes to make a difference.

“It’s a general estimation, but I don’t think it’s too late. We still have more than 80% of the legacy structures in place. New construction is at about 15 to 20% (of the housing stock),” Gilles said. 

Discussions about how to manage development in the neighborhood have been ongoing since 2016 and have been contentious, with those supporting the zoning changes hoping to preserve its character and history and other residents arguing the changes infringed on their property rights.

“We have to deal with the fact that this is an African American neighborhood that wants to maintain its integrity, that wants to keep our children, grandchildren living in an area that our parents fought for,” resident Zac Thompson said during the Oct. 12 meeting.

Another resident, Julie Coffman, though, said she believes the issue’s divided the neighborhood.

“I bought a house from somebody who sold it to me. That’s it,” Coffman said. “And now, you’re going to tell me what I can do with the single biggest investment I’ve ever made in my life.”