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The country's leading organization for architectural preservation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, recently announced its "Most Endangered List" for 2002. Marcel Quimby is one of Texas' two state representatives to the National Trust. Ms. Quimby used our Vanderbilt lot to hold a news conference announcing the List, and noted that the leading problem this year is teardowns.
Speakers included Marcel Quimby, National Trust Advisor; the Honorable Veletta Forsythe Lill, Dallas City Council Member; Dwayne Jones, Executive Director of Preservation Dallas; Mike Matthews, Preservation Park Cities; and Angela Hunt, Save The M Streets.
April 24, 2002
We had our third official conservation district meeting
on Wednesday, April 24th to discuss our proposed ordinance. We again had
a great turn-out for our third conservation district meeting of
somewhere around 100 people. We had several issues to address, and Jack
Guerra from the City's Department of Planning & Development did a great
job of keeping us focused and moving forward.
We discussed the following issues: rear yard setback, maximum number of stories, architectural styles for new construction, architectural styles for remodeling and house additions, retaining walls, and curbside trees. We were also educated on the issue of demolition. You can see the results of the meeting here.
March 18, 2002
We had our second official conservation district meeting
on Monday, March 18th to discuss our proposed ordinance. I'm pleased to
report that we again had a great turn-out of over 120 residents. We had
about ten topics to cover, but due to time constraints were only able to
address about half of them. The City presented the group with three
options for discussion: (1) the current City Code requirements, (2) the
most popular responses on the survey from last summer, and (3) the
City's recommendation. We discussed side yard setbacks, minimum and
maximum lot width, lot size, lot coverage, and fences. You can see
the results of the meeting here.
ebruary 12, 2002
The second hearing on the Rockland Homes' proposed variances for
5102 Ridgedale was held today before the Dallas Board of Adjustment.
For reasons enumerated in a number of e-mails sent out over the past few
weeks, the majority of our neighbors decided to make a deal with
Rockland to purchase the 5111 Vanderbilt lot in exchange for our support
of Rockland's variances on the Ridgedale lot. We signed the
contract on Feb. 11. At the hearing,
the Board granted Rockland's variances, and our neighborhood is now the
proud owner of the Vanderbilt lot! Get your shovels ready, because
we intend to plant a few trees to beautify the greenspace!
Special thanks to neighbor Mark Capell for taking charge of this issue and brokering this "land for peace" deal!
January 30, 2002
We had our first conservation district meeting on January 30. We
had a great turn-out of over a hundred residents.
Jack Guerra from the City led the meeting, and went over the basics of what being a conservation district means, and the process thus far. There are approximately 20 issues that we need to decide on to put in our ordinance. We covered just a few of them: location of the garage (must be to rear of house); height (we all want something less than current requirement of 30 feet); and driveway location (there was discussion of whether homes must have a straight driveway).
In order to make future meetings go a little faster, we're going to hand out flyers ahead of time to educate everyone on the options, and the pros and cons of each. We'll be having our next conservation district meeting on Monday, March 18th at 6:30PM at Stonewall Jackson Elementary. The City has assured us that we'll cover at least ten topics at the next meeting, so buckle your seatbelts....
December 6, 2001
Our City Planning Commissioner, Bill "Bulldog" Cunningham,
and the other members of the Planning Commission voted in
favor of authorizing the City to conduct a conservation
district feasibility study of our neighborhood. This is
the next big step in the process of becoming a conservation
district.
During this phase, we'll have neighborhood meetings to discuss the particulars of our ordinance. After we decide what we want to put in our ordinance, we as a neighborhood will then vote on it.
Angela Hunt will be meeting with the City in the next few weeks to discuss how we will organize the meetings. Shoot Angela an e-mail if you would like to receive periodic updates about the conservation district effort.
October 12, 2001
Our City Council Member, Mary Poss, held a meeting to discuss
moving forward with a conservation district for our
neighborhood. About 100 people attended the meeting, nearly
half of whom had not attended the last neighborhood meeting.
Leif Sandberg, from the City's Department of Planning and Development, did a great job leading the meeting and keeping it moving. First, Leif explained the procedure for becoming a conservation district. In summary, we'll be having a great deal of discussion, a lot of interaction with the City Planning Commission, and plenty of neighborhood meetings before we finalize an ordinance. A majority of our neighborhood, as well as those residents living in a 200-foot radius, must vote in favor of the ordinance. The City Planning Commission and City Council must then vote on the ordinance.
After Leif spoke, Angela Hunt presented the results of the preliminary neighborhood survey. We had a great response rate---200 households out of 918 filled out the survey. The survey results were distributed to the neighborhood on October 6th, and the questions we asked on the survey provided a great springboard for further discussion.
Lastly, Leif took a straw poll of the attendees regarding consensus of the neighbors towards developing a conservation district and their level of understanding. In addition, attendees were asked to return Blue Comment Cards which asked if they were for or against exploring a conservation district along with providing any written comments.
Question 1: Of the zoning tools reviewed (existing
zoning, planned development district, historic district,
conservation district) do you agree that the conservation
district deserves further consideration?
Yes: 92, No: 4.
Question 2: Generally, do you prefer that the "M"
Streets/Greenland Hills neighborhood continue to retain the
existing character and density of development?
Yes: 96, No: 0.
Question 3: Do you support "authorizing the hearing"
and continuing discussions regarding a proposed conservation
district for the "M" Streets?
Yes: 92, No: 4.
Question 4: Do you understand that, even if a
hearing is "authorized", the process could be terminated by
the City Plan Commission if there is not community agreement
on the final product?
Yes: 96, No: 0.
Question 5: If the hearing is authorized, are you
willing to consider and discuss a variety of options and
opinions regarding standards for the area?
Yes: 96, No: 0.
Question 6: Would you be willing to serve on a
sub-committee composed of neighborhood property owners to
further discuss what a conservation district might look like?
Yes: 45, No: 0.
Talk about a consensus! The next step is for our member of the City Plan Commission, Bill "Bulldog" Cunningham, to review our application and consider presenting it to the entire Plan Commission for us to begin the formal process.
September 24, 2001
Our City Council Member, Mary Poss, sponsored a
neighborhood meeting to discuss the conservation district.
Approximately 100 people attended the meeting. The meeting was
led by Ms. Poss, along with Leif Sandberg, Jack Guerra, and
Nathaniel Barnett of the City of Dallas Department of Planning
& Development. Leif, Jack, and Nathaniel presented a slide
show on different ways to protect Dallas neighborhoods,
including:
---Base Zoning - Zoning districts allow certain types of land uses. General rules apply for each type of zoning designation. We are currently zoned R 7.5(A)
---Planned Development Districts - May encourage a unified "urban design" for an area that does not have a distinctive atmosphere or character. Allows a mix of uses to encourage development and increase vitality of a community.
---Historic Districts - Zoning overlay to preserve buildings and the area's historic character. Buildings are rehabilitated for historic appropriateness and compatibility. All changes to the exterior of a house must be approved by Landmark Commission, its staff, and the neighborhood taskforce.
---Conservation Districts - Conserve an area's distinctive atmosphere or character. Tailor-made for neighborhoods that are stable or stabilizing. Flexible. Landmark Commission staff is usually required to approve residents' home improvements or construction.
Ms. Poss indicated that rather than proceeding to the Planning Commission with our petition of 75% of our residents to begin the formal process, she wanted to first gather a consensus. A number of people expressed concern that there was no clearly-defined plan to proceed. Ms. Poss and Leif indicated that they would draft a plan explaining the next steps in the process. We will be having another neighborhood meeting in the next few weeks.
When Ms. Poss asked the group who was for and against further exploring the issue of creating a conservation district, there appeared to be about 5 or fewer people who indicated they were against.
A couple of people raised a concern about how becoming a conservation district would affect our property values, and Leif stated that a 1999 study conducted by Rutgers University and the University of Texas showed that homes in historic districts in Texas (not conservation districts, but similar) increased in value by between 5-20% as compared to similar but unprotected neighborhoods in the same area. You can check out the study for yourself at www.thc.state.tx.us/PDF/EconImpact.pdf.
Just a quick reminder of how far we have come in just a few months: since May, we've mobilized the support of over 75% of our neighbors, we've contacted numerous absentee landlords, we've walked the neighborhood distributing flyers and collecting signatures, we've drafted and turned in our application to the City, we've started developing a style survey of our neighborhood (which will soon be available on the website), we've gotten a tremendous write-up in the Dallas Morning News, and we've conducted an initial neighborhood survey. This could have taken a year or more, and we've squeezed it into a few months.
Ms. Poss is sponsoring another meeting on Friday, October 12th at 6:30 p.m. at Unity Church (McCommas at Greenville) to discuss, among other things, the results of the survey we took.
September 10, 2001
Thanks to all of the hard work of our volunteers and the
perseverance of our residents, we have achieved our goal!
Over 75% of our property owners have signed the petition
asking the City to consider our area for conservation district
status. On Monday, we officially submitted our application to
the City Planning & Development Department.
Mayor Pro Tem Mary Poss will be holding a neighborhood meeting to discuss the proposed M Streets Conservation District on Monday, September 24th from 7:00pm-9:00pm at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 3741 Abrams Rd.
August 2, 2001
Angela Hunt, Juli Roland, Jay Firsching, and Paul Sims met
with Jack Guerra, who heads up the City's Historic
Preservation Department. Jack was very impressed with our
progress, and was very helpful in explaining the
details of the next steps in the
process.
July 30, 2001
The Dallas Morning News
has a wonderful article
highlighting our efforts to preserve our neighborhood.
Special thanks to DMN writer Mark Wrolstad for a terrific
piece.
July 21, 2001
Preliminary surveys have been delivered to all residents to
begin the first step in deciding what we as a community want
to put in our ordinance. Surveys will be picked up July
28th, and the results will be posted shortly. (Note that
this is not a final vote, just an exploratory survey.)
If you haven't yet returned your survey, please drop it off at
5306 Mercedes.
July 15, 2001
Interested neighbors met to discuss the status of the
petition---72%---as well as the creation of a survey to
distribute to neighbors. The survey will help us get an
idea of neighborhood support for various conservation district
requirements, and help us pare down the issues that we want to
consider for our ordinance.
July
13, 2001
Angela Hunt met with Dallas City Council Member Mary Poss
regarding our efforts. Poss has offered to assist our
group in organizing town-hall meetings to discuss conservation
district issues.
June 27, 2001
Angela Hunt spoke with Dallas City Council Member Valetta
Lill about creating an M Streets conservation district.
Lill, an active proponent of preservation, is very supportive
of our efforts, and has offered to assist us throughout the
process.
June 5, 2001
Paul Sims met with W. Dwayne Jones, Executive Director of
Preservation Dallas.
June
4, 2001
Angela Hunt and Paul Sims met with Jay Wysong, a new
resident to the M Streets and one of the owners of Belmont
Homes. Belmont, which has built a number of new homes in
the M Streets, contacted Save the M Streets to discuss the
conservation district's impact on new construction in our
area.
June 3, 2001
Petition volunteers met to discuss the status of the
petition. We're up
to SIXTY PERCENT!
May 21, 2001
Petition volunteers
met to discuss the
status of the
petition. Great news! Even with seven blocks not
yet reporting, we already have
44%! After only ONE WEEK!
May 18, 2001
On Friday, May 18, Angela Hunt gave a speech to the North
Central Texas American Planning Association, a group of
approximately fifty city planners from the region. Angela
spoke on "Urban Infill: A Resident's Perspective" and
presented a PowerPoint presentation as well.
"Infill" is new construction in established neighborhoods. Angela outlined the importance of the history and architecture represented by the original homes in the M Streets, and discussed the problems presented by infill housing that is incompatible with the original neighborhood. She also explained the benefits of creating a conservation district, and informed the group of the efforts of Save the M Streets, to a very enthusiastic response from the group.
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