A zoning battle over Pepper Square in Far North Dallas is getting heated. But residents have to realize Dallas needs more density and if NIMBY-ism takes over...
Converting a strip mall into apartments shouldn’t be this contentious.Things are getting spicy in Far North Dallas. An attempt to rezone Pepper Square, an aging retail complex near Preston and Belt Line Roads, is heating up with pungent rhetoric being bandied about on Nextdoor. Members of homeowners associations in the area oppose a plan to build 1,550 apartments at the site, concerned that potential new residents will make traffic congestion worse and make the area a target for crime.
The disagreement has reached ridiculous proportions. Damien LeVeck, a filmmaker who lives in the area, has been circulating crisply edited videos of him and other residents heckling Jaynie Schultz, their representative on the City Council. LeVeck has embarked on an effort to recall Schultz, saying that she isn’t listening to residents in the district who oppose density.
The opponents of the project were also concerned about the potential increase in traffic. Replacing some of the retail with apartments should reduce the total number of car trips in the area. The drive-in style strip mall stores at Pepper Square right now encourage more traffic than the mix of apartments of retail would generate. In the long run, as the population of our region explodes, we will have to reduce the stress on our road infrastructure through alternative modes of transportation.
People barely pay attention to municipal politics, so I guess we should be glad these residents at least know who their council member is. Kleinman told me he’s concerned about the growing populism in Dallas. “People who scream the loudest will be heard, and, unfortunately, that might not be good public policy because it doesn’t take into consideration the broader aspects of what the city needs to do,” he said.City politics need more voters engaged, particularly younger residents.
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