Almost 100 residents gathered at the Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center gymnasium this month to express their concerns and opinions on the South Dallas Fair Park Area Plan. The meeting was the first of three hosted by the City of Dallas Planning and Development Department.
City Council approved the new area plan in June to guide future development in the South Dallas neighborhood. The plan’s goals are to encourage the growth of small business and welcome new development by creating mixed-use corridors, and simultaneously to minimize displacement of current residents by formalizing residential design standards so that new construction resembles the neighborhood’s historic homes.
The purpose of the authorized hearing process and the series of public meetings is “to explore how to implement the land use and zoning recommendations” from the area plan, the City’s website states, as well as to ensure that “future zoning aligns with the community’s adopted vision” for everything from neighborhood character to infrastructure improvements to gentrification and revitalization. All three meetings will present different information, according to the department…