After months of organizing, block walking and city meetings, residents of a West Oak Cliff neighborhood will learn what their community will look like in the future.
On Wednesday, the Dallas City Council will vote whether to rezone a 35-acre area known as the Hampton-Clarendon Corridor. The plan, among other things, would increase walkability, prohibit new drive-through businesses, encourage mixed-use development along the corridor, and allow for small multi-family developments.
But activists in the tight-knit, predominantly Hispanic community are worried it will lead to displacement and gentrification.
The corridor is lined with automobile businesses, such as car repair shops, tire shops and car washes, including Gerardo “Jerry” Figueroa’s J & E Express. Some of these storefronts have been here for years, interspersed with single-family homes.
“We've seen these plans take place in like West Dallas, East Dallas, Bishop Arts, all those areas,” Figueroa said.
He also points to Little Mexico, a once-thriving Hispanic neighborhood in downtown Dallas that is now “gone, erased.” He called it development at the cost of the people.
“They change these places drastically,” he said. “I don't think it's for the best of our neighbors.”
Business owner Vanessa Saldaña said the proposed rezoning doesn’t fit with her community.
“I feel like the city sees that it's just not pretty enough, and I'm like, but what defines beauty?” she said.
The proposal is part of the larger West Oak Cliff Area Plan (WOCAP) the city unanimously approved in 2022. District 1 City Council member Chad West, who represents West Oak Cliff and served on the City Plan Commission at the time it considered WOCAP, said it evolved from surveys and comments from thousands of residents.
In a statement to KERA, he said three neighborhood associations bordering Hampton-Clarendon have submitted letters of support for rezoning.
“My job as Councilmember is to listen to the neighbors who actually live by Hampton-Clarendon, and they have told me through WOCAP and neighborhood association letters that something needs to be done in this corridor,” West said.
He told KERA in an interview he’s aware residents are concerned about displacement — many business owners in the area don’t own their buildings. But, he said, “we've got to balance that concern with concerns that neighbors have about being able to cross the street safely.”
That’s what Ryan Sears, a pastor in the area, stressed to the City Plan Commission in April.
“I would like to protect our kids,” he said. “I would like to protect the residents who live there, and I’ve heard those who are in opposition.”
The commission voted to recommend the full city council approve the rezoning plan over the objections of activists and residents who spoke against it.
Activist Violeta Gallardo Montejano said she hasn’t received concrete information about whether the plan includes protection against displacement for business owners and residents.
“What we hear is just crickets,” she said.
Others say the city hasn’t done enough to get the word out about the proposed rezoning. Ahead of April’s vote, city staff held four community meetings about the project, but business owner Janet Avila said she and others in Hampton-Clarendon — many of whom are Spanish speaking — never received a letter or information from the city. She only learned of the meetings when community leaders told her about it.
“I am very close to the landlords and they are Hispanics too,” Avila said. “They did not know what was going on. They were not aware of any changes that [the city was] trying to make.”
Despite the CPC’s recommendation to the city council, community leader Jennifer Rangel said the fight isn’t over. Leading up to the city’s vote, she and auto shop owner Jerry Figueroa have undertaken a grassroots effort to hand out bilingual flyers and banners without “academic” zoning language — in terms residents can understand.
“It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what's going to happen. These places are gonna become unattainable,” Figueroa said. “These homes are ... already are super expensive where we could barely afford to live here.”
Rangel said she and others plan to show up to Wednesday’s city council meeting to continue to push against rezoning.
“Overwhelmingly, the community is saying no,” she 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.’”
Priscilla Rice is KERA’s communities reporter. Got a tip? Email her at price@kera.org.
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