Teardown fever thrives in Preston Hollow – some neighborhoods have already been so completely rebuilt that, like the dinosaur, no vestige of the original remains. Sure the rise in property values as a result of this builder-interest creates a nice nest egg. All of us who live here support rising property values, and we look forward to earning top dollar for our properties when we sell them.
However, what many of us don’t support is the willy-nilly, patchwork style construction taking place, and builders who obtain zoning variances as often as teenagers break curfew. Residents in Preston Hollow East (PHE) recently helped defeat a builder’s request to divide a lot on Del Norte into two new home sites. Thought turned down twice, the developer can re-apply innumerable times and hope for a favorable planning commission decision down the road, even though the current residents strongly oppose the idea of lot divisions.
This type of speculative development that ignores the needs and desires of the current residents could have a devastating impact on our neighborhood and property values – and until now, existing Preston Hollow homeowners have had little control over that development. Finally, concern over the lack of coherent construction plans in PHE has residents exploring a conservation district option.
Unlike historic districts, which can dictate specific building materials and require new construction to adhere to strict architectural periods, conservation districts identify which general aspects of the neighborhood current residents want to maintain and require builders to incorporate those aspects. The district guidelines can be as simple or as complicated as the neighborhood desires. Typically, conservation guidelines specify uniform front and side yard setbacks, building height and roof pitch, and can even specify the proportion of square footage to lot size.
According to Sherrie Hull, one of the organizers of the conservation district drive, “a conservation district is not anti-development.” We can still sell our homes to builders who want to construct new, large homes in PHE, but they’ll have to take current resident preferences into account before they break ground.
So now’s the time to decide, while the neighborhood still retains 80 percent of its original homes, what you like about PHE, and what you could live without. I, personally, would rather be in charge of what happens in my neighborhood and not be at the mercy of a developer who doesn’t live here and could care less if so much as one blade of grass remains when the teardown trend ends.
PHE residents are canvassing the neighborhood for petition signatures; if 75 percent of the residents agree, the city will conduct a feasibility study on the conservation district issue. You’ll have a chance to voice your opinion at neighborhood meetings about what aspects of the neighborhood should remain protected. Once the hearing process is over, the city writes the plan, and the neighborhood votes on it. Unlike deed restrictions, a conservation district is permanent and requires the same petition process to amend or discontinue the district guidelines.
Let’s join the 13 neighborhoods across Dallas that have already established what they can and won’t tolerate in new construction in their neighborhood. Having a conservation district certainly hasn’t destroyed housing prices or builder interest in the M Streets or Greenway Parks. A conservation district won’t jeopardize what makes our neighborhood so desirable to developers – proximity to downtown and lot size – but it will protect our investment from unsightly building trends or from builders who can double their profits by chopping up the neighborhood into tiny postage stamp lots.
