The city plan commission approved plans for a new gated community at the northwest corner Forest and Creekway Drive last week.
The four-and-a-half-acre property already is zoned as single-family residential, but developer Charles Hicks, who lives near the site, needed approval for a planned development district, which allows for a shared access development.
For years, the lot has been an open green space once home to a large white Georgian house. The Unity Church of Dallas owns the land and intends to sell it to an interested buyer such as Hicks.
The development plan is consistent with the surrounding area; other gated communities and cul-de-sacs have sprouted up and down Forest over the years with developers opting for smaller lots.
Bruce Wilke, president of the Hillcrest Forest Neighborhood Association, says that while the HFNA hasn’t taken an official position, “I really haven’t heard a lot of negativity about it.”
He says Hicks has discussed leaving some green space between Forest and the retaining wall — something you don’t see very much of with similar communities in Preston Hollow.
The lots would sell for around $400,000, and the homes at $1 million.
The CPC approved the plan under several conditions, including that the developer must fund the creation of a left turn lane on eastbound Forest to prevent some serious traffic back-up.
The plan still has to go through the city council next month before it’s final.
