The Dallas City Plan Commission has recommended approval for the city’s controversial Hampton-Clarendon corridor rezoning plan in West Oak Cliff.
All but two commissioners — Thomas Forsyth and Deborah Carpenter — voted for the Hampton Clarendon plan Thursday. The city plan commission’s recommendations will now go to the city council for final approval.
The proposal, part of the West Oak Cliff Area Plan, has been met with strong opposition from many local Hispanic business owners and community members at public meetings held by the city.
Gerardo Figueroa, an auto shop owner in the corridor and a member of the Automotive Association of Oak Cliff, was one of the public speakers who said their fight wasn’t over.
“I think the sentiment is still the same,” Figueroa said. “People don’t want it, and we’re going to keep on fighting.”
Figueroa said he and other business owners are afraid of rising rents if the rezoning is approved.
"I've heard a lot of the people in the neighborhood, and I've talked to a lot people [who] say, ‘you know what, the businesses and the housing that's coming, they are not for us,'" Figueroa said. “They're for the people that are to come.”
Jennifer Rangel — executive director of the environmental, economic and housing nonprofit RAYO Planning — has been a vocal critic of the plan, and worked to engage with the predominantly Spanish-speaking community on the issue.
“Overwhelmingly, the community is saying ‘no,’” Rangel said. "We don't know what else we need. How else do we need to show and explain to the city, a simple resounding ‘no’ you know?”
Fears of displacement and gentrification have been the top concerns among the majority of speakers at public meetings.
Violeta Gallardo-Montejano, a West Oak Cliff resident, said Thursday she didn’t believe there were enough protections in place for business and homeowners. She said she feared the long-term impact the plan would have in five-to-10 years if it passed.
"We have asked the city a couple of times, what protections are you offering for us?” Gallardo-Montejano, said. “What we hear is just crickets.”
While city staff said they received comments and letters from business owners and neighborhood associations in favor of the plan, the majority of people who spoke up during Thursday’s hearing were against it.
There were two that spoke in favor, including Ryan Sears, a pastor in West Oak Cliff. But while Sears supported the plan, he shared concerns at the hearing.
“I don’t know that there hasn’t been transparency on both sides of this and that there hasn’t been any use disinformation,” Sears said.
One common refrain is a fear the area will become a destination for nightlife, like nearby Bishop Arts — something District 1 Council Member Chad West told KERA was an unfair comparison.
“Bishop Arts allows for five stories,” West told KERA. “We will be going less in terms of total height allowed in this zoning change.”
While Bishop Arts has apartment complexes with 100-plus units, the West Oak Cliff plan would have a limit in limit to only 12 units, West said.
“What I would like to see from the opposition, and I have said this in public meetings, is if there is something that folks do not like about it, tell staff what that is,” West said.
Meanwhile, the Automotive Association of Oak Cliff has a bilingual petition circulating that specifically asks locals to voice their objections to the rezoning on Hampton and Clarendon. The petition, with over a thousand signatures, was shared with the commission Thursday.
Rangel, Figueroa and others have block-walked to share flyers in English and Spanish and have had carne asadas — or cookouts — to inform the community about these hearings.
“We've had too many folks who have taken time out of their schedule, embedded this advocacy work during their work time,” Rangel said, “whether it's collecting petitions at the businesses, notarizing information, donating funds to be able to have banners, donating for printing.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of council members for and against the recommendation. All but two council members voted 'yes'.
