Residents trying to remove Dallas City Council member Gay Donnell Willis from office took their first formal step Friday, Oct. 9, filing a notice of intent to circulate a recall petition, People Newspapers reported.
The notice was signed by Doug Hazelbaker, John Wimberley, Victor Vescovo, Margaret DiFrancesco and Margaret Chabris, and was filed by a newly formed political action committee, according to the paper. Willis represents District 13, which includes Preston Hollow.
What comes next
Organizers now have 60 days to collect signatures from 15% of District 13's registered voters, which they put at roughly 9,500 names. If the city secretary certifies the petition, the council must call a recall election on the next date state law allows, which organizers expect to be in May 2027. The next regular City Council election is in November 2027.
The zoning cases behind it
The effort grew out of a coalition called D13 Together, formed in August by residents of neighborhoods including Preston Hollow, Melshire Estates, Wimberley Court and Bluffview. Its members say Willis sided with developers on three cases:
- A request to rezone the southwest quadrant of the Preston Road and Royal Lane shopping center for hotel, residential and office buildings, the tallest of which could reach 240 feet against the current 54-foot limit. The City Plan Commission approved it Aug. 6, and the council hearing has been moved from Oct. 14 to Nov. 10 while engineers study traffic fixes the developer would pay for.
- A 37-home patio-home development at Walnut Hill Lane and Betty Jane Lane, approved Sept. 23.
- An amendment to the planned development district for Melshire Estates, approved Aug. 12.
"We're funded, we're serious, we're committed," DiFrancesco told CandysDirt.com in September. Hazelbaker, who co-chairs a group called Neighborhoods First, told People Newspapers that residents feel shut out of the three cases.
