Aerial rendering of the future Career Institute North at Walnut Hill. Photo courtesy of Peter Ramstedt (Turner Construction).
When Dallas ISD started talking about building its new Career Institute North at the former Walnut Hill Elementary site, neighbors opposed it.
During the City Plan Commission meeting in July, 43 neighbors spoke in opposition to the plans. The CPC approved the development with additions to the conditions, a development plan, a landscape plan and a traffic management plan.
After the City Council approved the zoning change for a planned development district in September, they still opposed it. See the information here.
They started a group, the Walnut Hill Residents Association, and set up a GoFundMe to raise money to hire an attorney to challenge the case in court. As of publication, over $36,000 has been donated.
Their slogan: Yes to schools, yes to students, no to rezoning.
The new Career Institute North would allow high-school students to pursue pathways in aviation; automotive; EMT/fire fighting; special needs (culinary, robotics, maintenance); health care/dental assisting; mechatronics; cybersecurity and software development; construction, carpentry and welding; plumbing; electrical; HVAC; and architecture/interior design. Currently, the Career Institute North is located in a warehouse north of I-635 at Midway Road.
Dave Rogers is one of the neighbors opposing DISD’s plans to build the school on the Walnut Hill site. He says they have hired an attorney to try to buy some time and stop construction permits from being granted just yet.
Rogers says there are two main concerns for property owners near the school. One has to do with the size of the student population. Before the tornado, there were about 400 students attending Walnut Hill Elementary. At a January information session, DISD said there would be 800 students on campus at any given time, double the total enrollment of Walnut Hill.
Aerial view of Walnut Hill Elementary site.
The other issue regards the size of the campus itself. Walnut Hill Elementary comprised 47,800 square feet. DISD has proposed a 117,800-square-foot addition for a total of 165,500 square feet.
“It’s not a reasonable use of that land,” Rogers says.
There are other concerns. Neighbors are worried about the traffic issues that would result from the buses, which Rogers says wouldn’t be able to make the turns and would cause backup on Midway Road. They also wanted to make sure that the school wouldn’t be used during nights and weekends, and that DISD would handle any flooding that would happen with the land covered with concrete structures.
He adds that he thinks this is a case of spot zoning and that if another commercial trade school wanted to build a similar development on the property, the City wouldn’t allow it. He says DISD is getting favorable treatment.
The lawsuit was filed in October, and the City responded. Now the neighbors are waiting for a judge to review the case and set a hearing date.
“It’s unfortunate that it even had to come to this,” Rogers says.
As an alternative to the Career Institute North, Rogers says DISD could build a talented and gifted academy. Or, the space could be a park.
