Dallas City Council has directed City Manager Kimberley Bizor Tolbert to pause renovation and repair process of the City Hall building — and to look at leasing options for a new location.
The vote was made during a special called meeting on Wednesday. Council Members Laura Cadena, Adam Bazaluda, Paula Blackmon, Bill Roth, Cara Mendelsohn, and Paul Ridley voted against.
A temporary restraining order granted on Tuesday — filed by Blackmon, Bazaldua, and Mendelsohn — attempted to stop any action related to City Hall. While the city removed agenda items from the special meeting that involved redevelopment work on the property, it still included an item related to approving a repair strategy.
Council Member Chad West made a motion related to repairs — to stop a repair strategy. That approved motion directs staff to bring back leasing options for a new city hall by August 26.
"One of the main things that have been asked for from my residents in my town hall and from many of the speakers over the course of the last several months is to have a true side-by-side comparison," West said. "We cannot do that if we stop the process today."
That motion did not include direction to staff to bring back estimates on the cost to demolish the building and where the materials would go.
Bazaldua proposed an amendment that would have included this, but it was rejected by the majority of council members who voted in favor of West's motion.
Cadena pleaded with her fellow council members to vote in favor of Bazaldua's amendment before it was rejected. She said materials have historically been dumped in her District 6, located in west Dallas.
"This is a great concern to me," Cadena said. "We have a lot of industrial area in district six because of the zoning that has been passed that was also in part [sic] of environmental racism."
The vote comes after months of debate among both council members and residents on whether to stay and repair years of deferred maintenance at the I.M. Pei-designed building or to relocate and redevelop the site.
There were 130 people who signed up to speak during the special called meeting. Between executive sessions and recesses, it took eight hours before they were able to speak for one minute each.
Some residents wore "Save City Hall" pins. Others wore green "Say Yes to Downtown" shirts.
Say Yes to Downtown Co-Chairs Tré Black, Amanda Moreno-Lake, and Bruce Orr said in a statement that they were grateful that the council chose to think about the next 50 years, not the last 50.
"Today's vote creates an opportunity to save taxpayers money, unlock one of the most important redevelopment sites in the city, and help strengthen the economic engine that supports services for all Dallas residents," they said in the statement.
But Bazaldua said that Wednesday's vote would have consequences far beyond the terms of the current council.
"In my view, there was not enough transparency, not enough accountability, and not enough willingness to fully explore alternative possibilities for a civic asset of this importance," Bazaldua said in a statement. "Rather than a process defined by long-term vision and public collaboration, we were presented with a rushed timeline, disputed assumptions, and a recommendation that many residents believed had been predetermined."
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