ForwardDallas update: latest draft & June 17 Public Hearing

City of Dallas sent this bulletin at 06/08/2024 09:30 AM CDT

READ THE LATEST FORWARDDALLAS PLAN

ForwardDallas is a high-level comprehensive plan for the city of Dallas. It is a guide and citywide vision that members of the City Planning Commission (CPC) and the Dallas City Council use to make decisions about future development requests. The CPC and Dallas PUD staff continue to review comments and recommendations from residents and interested parties. The latest draft has updates to the five themes which make up ForwardDallas. Those themes include:

Environmental Justice + Sustainability,
Transit-Oriented Development + Connectivity,
Housing Choice + Access,
Economic Development + Revitalization, and
Community + Urban Design

View the latest Placetype map (released June 2024).

Review the ForwardDallas CPC draft #4 (released June 2024).

What's new in CPC draft #4:

Clarification on Environmental Justice Implementation Steps (pgs 4-6 and 4-7)
General updates to design strategies for several Placetypes (pgs 3-8 through 3-55)
Added historical context and trends language (pgs 1-8 and 1-9)
Updates to Current Conditions and Equity Connections in the Themes (pgs 2-4 through 2-17)
Added emphasis on Transit Oriented Development (TOD) (pgs 2-6 through 2-9)
Updated definition for Primary and Secondary Use and updates to the Placetype/Land Use Matrix (pgs. 3-6 and 3-7)
Added Overview and Purpose language and Relationship to Historic Districts, Neighborhood Stabilization Overlays and Conservation Districts (pgs 1-6 and 1-7)
Updated context language and added locational strategies and design considerations to the Community Residential Placetype (pgs 3-16 through 3-19)
Inclusion of supporting documents including Context Maps, Glossary, Area-Specific Placetype Maps and Existing Condition Analysis (appendices)

GIVE COMMENTS

Do you have comments about ForwardDallas? You can send your comments to your City Plan Commissioner. We want to hear from you. Give your comments at bit.ly/cpcpubliccommentform.

NEXT STEPS

On Monday, June 17, CPC will hold a special called Public Hearing for public comments on ForwardDallas. CPC will discuss the revised plan and take public comments. Join online or in-person at Dallas City Hall on the 6th floor. Individuals joining remotely and interested in speaking will need to pre-register to speak.

Join online or register to speak here.

GET THE FACTS

Questions about ForwardDallas?

Get the ForwardDallas Facts!
View the FAQ page.
View the Resource page.

View May 16th Briefing (1:51 - 5:08)
View May 16 PowerPoint
View May 2nd Briefing (0.00 - 1:23)

View April 18th Public Hearing

View April 11th Workshop

FAQs

Will ForwardDallas 2.0 Rezone My Property?

NO. ForwardDallas is a land use guide and does not result in rezoning any part of the city. Any rezoning requires notification and a separate public process including public meetings at City Plan Commission and final decision with City Council.

Does ForwardDallas 2.0 Recommend Eliminating Single-Family zoning?

NO. ForwardDallas does not recommend eliminating single-family zoning. ForwardDallas does encourage more housing types throughout the City, and it points to starting with a variety of housing options at key intersections, local commercial areas, along corridors and within ½ mile of DART transit stations.

How will ForwardDallas 2.0 be used and who will use it?

The plan is a guide used by City Boards and Commissions; City Council; City Plan Commission; City departments, City and County agencies; residents; employers; developers and other stakeholders to inform decisions about development, infrastructure and code regulations. Most specifically, when a new application for a zoning change goes before the City Plan Commission and the City Council, the application will be reviewed based on whether the zoning change “is in accordance with” the comprehensive plan. The Texas Local Government Code, the City Charter and the Local Development Code lay out the authority of a comprehensive plan, which is guidance for development application and does not constitute zoning.

The ForwardDallas 2.0 comprehensive land use plan is one of several factors taken into account when reviewing development proposals. ForwardDallas also identifies areas where there are inconsistencies between the current use on the ground today, the desired future vision for the area, and the existing zoning needed to implement the vision. Specifically, ForwardDallas has identified environmental justice areas where incompatible uses and zoning exist (commonly residential next to industrial) and recommends an updated future land use vision for those areas to guide future zoning efforts.

What is a Placetype?

A Placetype is a description of different places within the city---neighborhoods, mixed use areas, employment and industry centers and open spaces---that incorporates a desired mix of land uses, design and the recommended intensity and scale. Placetypes are similar to future land use descriptions but are broader in scale and are used more commonly for large, citywide plans versus the property-by-property future land use descriptions found in area and neighborhood plans.

Why is a Comprehensive Plan Important?

The plan establishes a framework, grounded in equity, for how Dallas should grow, preserve and transition. To date, the city’s planning has been largely piecemeal and reactionary, without a citywide policy to guide growth and change. Dallas is projected to grow by several hundred thousand over the coming decades. It is critical that the City have an intentional, long-range plan to manage that growth while also establishing policies for areas and uses that should be preserved. The plan also addresses areas with land use incompatibilities and provides a roadmap for transitioning toward more mutually supportive uses and amenities.

Is there still time for me to provide input?

Yes. Public meetings at which individuals may sign-up to speak either in person or virtually will be scheduled at City Plan Commission meetings and for City Council. See the upcoming Briefings & Public Hearings here.

How does ForwardDallas 2.0 relate to other adopted citywide policies?

The ForwardDallas 2.0 project team coordinated with the applicable City departments to review and discuss recently adopted citywide policies and plans to ensure that ForwardDallas aligned with the respective policies including the 2020 Comprehensive Environmental & Climate Action Plan (CECAP), 2021 Racial Equity Plan, the 2021 Connect Dallas Strategic Mobility Plan, the 2023 Economic Development Incentive Policy, the Dallas Housing Policy 2033. The project team also reviewed all previous adopted area plans, vision plans and strategy documents. These plans established the baseline for the initial ForwardDallas 2.0 draft.

What is the approval process?

In January 2024, the Comprehensive Land Use Plan Committee (CLUP) completed its review and recommendations of the draft plan. The City Plan Commission (CPC) is now reviewing the draft plan. CPC will hold public hearings to hear from the community, tentatively through June. CPC will then provide a recommendation to City Council. Once CPC recommends an updated draft to City Council, tentatively August/September, City Council will also hold a public hearing(s). City Council is the final decision maker for the plan.

Do you have questions? Email pud@dallas.gov