Dallas residents get their first look this week at the city's attempt to replace a zoning code that planners say has been patched for more than 60 years.
Planning and Development Director Emily Liu and Deputy Director Andreea Udrea are scheduled to brief the City Council's Economic Development Committee at 1 p.m. Monday. On Thursday, Nov. 5, staff plan to brief the City Plan Commission and post Draft 1 of the new development code on the city's Dallas Zoning Reform website, where it will take public comment.
What the draft would do
According to the briefing slides, the new rules would sit in a new chapter of the City Code, with Chapters 51 and 51A pointing to it and only a few specialized regulations left behind. Existing base zoning districts would move automatically to whichever new district most closely resembles them.
Planned development ordinances themselves would not be rewritten, though any parts that rely on the old chapters would follow the change.
Staff list five goals. The code would allow a wider range of housing, including "neighborhood-scale" options with design standards, more multi-unit and mixed-use building in certain districts and smaller minimum lots where state law allows. It would consolidate districts, keep new heavy industry separated from residential zoning and steer growth toward transit, mixed-use "urban villages" and corridors.
More decisions would be made administratively under objective standards, with discretionary approvals saved for what staff call community-based decisions. The draft also adds design rules for garage placement and driveways, and the slides say development scale would stay capped to protect existing neighborhoods.
