The Dallas City Council on May 22 approved the Valley View-Galleria Area Plan that will transform 430 acres of North Dallas in a unanimous vote.
District 12 councilwoman Sandy Greyson says that on June 12, the City Council will vote to approve a thoroughfare amendment plan and form-based zoning for the area that has come to be known as Dallas Midtown.
“There will be tweaks along the way. What we approved now is the vision,” Greyson says. “The zoning is more when you get down into how the vision will actually be implemented.”
Greyson says this type of form-based zoning will not be imposed on developers, but it’s an option for them to use.
A few property owners’ representatives requested the council delay the vote on the area plan until the June 12 meeting because they are worried that when streets are extended, as laid out in the plan, some owners on Alpha and other streets fear widening of the streets will take up their frontage and turn them into non-conforming use, Greyson says.
When Advocate spoke with Peer Chacko, the city’s assistant director for development services, in early May, he said the area would be divided into seven subdistricts, and businesses larger than 7,600 square feet would no longer be allowed. Stores like the Target at Montfort and LBJ will be of “non-conforming use,” which means the store has a legal right to stay in its place. Chacko said because their current zoning ordinance will be outdated when Dallas Midtown is complete, they will “face some limitations as regards to expansion.”
While some have expressed mixed feelings about the whole project, it may be a relief to remember that it’s decades out. For now, check out what Valley View Center owner Scott Beck and a group of artists are doing to draw people back the area 25 years in advance of Dallas Midtown.
