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Henry S. Miller and their consultant Masterplan have released an updated proposal regarding their application to rezone Pepper Square from Community Retail to Mixed Use 2. This appears to be the final version that will be presented to the City Plan Commission at the upcoming hearing on Thursday, August 8^th. In summary, they are seeking to build 752 residential units over 3 phases, in buildings that range from 5 stories to 12 stories. They would have the option to add an additional 116 units if they are designated as retirement housing and another additional 116 units if they are made available to households earning less than the area median family income. (It’s likely they would opt to pay a fee in lieu of offering the mixed-income housing units. There is no fee in lieu option for the retirement units). The total maximum number of dwelling units would be 984. Their most recent prior proposal had included a maximum number of dwelling units of 1,550.

The first phase of their proposal would include a 5 story building with 300 units and two park spaces – one along Belt Line Rd and one interior to the site. The exact unit counts for subsequent phases has not been determined yet, but they are limited to a max of 984 units total across all phases. The second phase would include a 12 story building situated closer to Preston Rd and the third phase would include another 5 story building.  The building heights have not changed from their most recent prior proposal.

A new light signal at Berry Trail would be warranted as part of the first phase, but no other guaranteed traffic-related changes would take place as part of this proposal. The landowner’s consultant has uploaded various documents to their site that you can review. To see more details surrounding the Planned Development conditions that would be placed on top of this MU-2 zoning, and to see the latest renderings and answers to questions posed by neighborhood leaders, navigate here.

If you have an opinion on this rezoning application, you are encouraged to make it known by showing up and speaking at City Hall (1500 Marilla St, 6^th floor) on Thursday, August 8^th. You can register to speak when you arrive that day. If you can’t be there in person, please sign up to speak online by the deadline of August 7^th at 3pm. The link to register as a remote speaker is here.

Note – you do not have to register in advance to speak IF YOU ARE THERE IN PERSON. The hearing will begin at 12:30pm, and this application appears to be Item 6 on the agenda. Parking is limited at City Hall, so carpooling is encouraged. Be prepared to pay for public parking. Please let us know if you’ll be attending by submitting an RSVP here. This will be the best way for us to get you last minute information, if needed. 

• COMMUNITY MEETING – Thursday, July 18th at 7pm at PTAA (Pioneer Technology & Arts Academy, 15720 Hillcrest Rd, across from the Dallas Bible Church) This meeting will provide a brief recap of the Pepper Square rezoning proposal and process, but it will primarily focus on organizing ourselves for the upcoming CPC meeting at Dallas City Hall. If you have strong feelings about the number of apartments proposed for Pepper Square, please attend this meeting. PRESENTATION SLIDES CAN BE FOUND HERE. 
• CITY PLAN COMMISSION HEARING – Thursday, August 8th at 1pm at Dallas City Hall, in the Council Chambers (1500 Marilla Street, Dallas 75201). This would be where the vote on rezoning Pepper Square takes place. It’s important that as many residents as possible show up and speak at the hearing. 

Now is the time to write the City Plan Commissioners to let them know how you feel about the Pepper Square rezoning application. Please reference Zoning Case No. Z212-358. Send the email to the City Secretary, Yolanda, (yolanda.hernandez@dallas.gov) and ask her to forward to all City Plan Commissioners. 

The neighborhood’s concerns can be summarized as:

• Density – Henry S. Miller’s proposal includes a large number of apartments (equates to 100 apartments/acre). The east side of Preston Rd is almost entirely populated with single family residences. The west side of Preston Rd is (reasonably) densely populated with apartments and condos. There are more than 6,000 apartment/condo units in close proximity to Pepper Square, with hundreds of immediate vacancies. When Preston Del Norte and the area south of Alexis (which are already entitled) are developed, there will be thousands more units and vacancies. A shortage of apartments is not an issue in our area and a zoning change shouldn’t be approved for the purpose of adding more apartments in a single-family residential area. Furthermore, the level of density being proposed is unreasonable and out of character and scope even in the existing multi-family areas.
• Building Height – Henry S. Miller’s proposal calls for high-rise buildings (up to 12 stories tall). The east side of Preston Rd is almost entirely populated with single family residences. Multi-family in the general vicinity is in low-rise buildings. There is an outlier office building on the west side of Preston Rd that can be seen from nearby neighborhoods/backyards. The proposal includes high rise buildings on the east side of Preston that vastly differ from the existing makeup of the area.
• Traffic – The Preston & Belt Line Rd intersection is operating at an E or F rating at peak times. The majority of traffic at the intersection is from through-traffic. Adding residential to the site will increase the number of cars joining the already overflowing through-traffic numbers at morning and evening rush hour. Redevelopment under Community Retail would spread the vehicle trips throughout the day as opposed to clustering at the already busiest times.
• City Services – With the Preston Del Norte re-development potentially adding a net of 1,700+ units and the area south of Alexis potentially getting hundreds of units, the addition of thousands more at Pepper Square would put an even greater strain on city services. Residents are concerned about the effect this would have on utilities, fire department response, police response, and school population. Fire and police have confirmed that any additional resources allocated to the area couldn’t be done proactively. Response times would suffer before an additional rescue is added to Fretz Station 11, and before more personnel are hired to the North Central station. Additionally, Code Enforcement is not staffed to handle the already approved apartments (Preston Del Norte and Tonti) plus Henry S. Miller’s proposed multi-family dwelling units. The DISD school (Anne Frank) that would serve PS is already overcrowded.
• The proposed zoning change fundamentally alters the land use of Pepper Square shopping center – Pepper Square will no longer be a restaurant/shopping center that serves the surrounding community. Pepper Square could be transformed into a high-density mixed-use apartment complex, whose retail services and green space will primarily serve only those who live in Pepper Square. The neighborhood would be losing an amenity that had been serving the needs of the surrounding community.