• 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.