AN ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT TO THE ADVOCATE DR PEPPER SITE IS MODEL FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
By Jonathan Vinson
The effort to save, adapt and re-use the landmark Dr Pepper building at Greenville and Mockingbird appears to be gaining momentum. Representatives from Dai-Mac and Kroger, along with traffic analysts and City staffers, made a presentation on Feb. 15 to the Greenland Hills, Vickery Place and Lower Greenville neighborhoods. Their plan to develop the site is being touted as a model for community based planning, especially for DART station locations. The group studying the site came up with a plan where the first floor and the basement would be opened up for two levels of retaiL Dai-Mac is looking for an anchor tenant for the building, preferably a well-known, first class retailer who could operate a two-level store. It is thought that a large bookstore chain would be a likely possibility. Eventually. uses could be found for the upper floors of the building, assuming the development is successfuL
Thanks to a proposed shared parking arrangement among DART, Dai-Mac, and Kroger, the site in its first phase will have plenty of parking. As more retail is added, the planned parking lot north of the building could be decked, for example like the main lot at Preston Center.
Kroger adopted an architectural design for its store that will blend with the Dr Pepper building. And an extensive traffic study was done. Thanks to community input, there will be street improvements so that cut-through traffic won’t move from the retail site down McMillan through the residential areas. There will also be more turn lanes and improved signals.
THE CHURCH CONTROVERSEY
Also discussed at the Feb. IS meeting was the future for the site formerly occupied by the Greenville Avenue Christian Church at Greenville and llano. The church, which burned down in December, was the subject of heated zoning battles in 1982 and 1986. Another rezoning request was rumored in 1989, but never materialized.
Research by neighbors shows that four of the six platted single family lots making up the site were occupied by houses before the church was built in the late f9l0s. Two of the six lots acrually face Vickery, behind the strip containing John’s Cafe and the Roxy Antique Shop.
One unconfirmed report says the owners of the church site are possibly trying to acquire the retail strip to assemble a much larger tract bounded by Vickery, Greenville and Llano, and four to five lots deep. To date, no zoning change has been filed.
If one is filed, and sooner rather than later is probably a safe bet, many questions will arise. Will the residents of the notice area, supported by surrounding neighborhood groups, hold out for continued single-family zoning? Will the owners try to change the zoning to their liking in the face of that potential opposition? Is there any room for compromise?
As with any zoning change, the decision will ultimately be made by the City Plan Commission and the City Council, and individuals on each may or may not know or care very much about the area’s zoning history. As soon as anything happens, we will pass it along to you.
MERCHANTS STATI BANK SITE
The issue of what will become of the vacant Merchants State Bank site has heated up. The site reportedly was acquired by DISD for a relief elementary school to alleviate overcrowding at area grade schools. A number of property owners in the immediate area oppose this use. They argue that the location is unsafe for young children, that commercial users are ready to come in and develop the property, and that use by DISD would take the property off the tax rolls.
Instead, the group believes that DISD should look at nearby sites containing dilapidated apartment complexes and use one or more of those, at the same time doing the neighborhood a favor by removing the decayed apartments.
MUCH ADO ABOUT CHRISTIE’S After a careful review by the City Attorney’s office and the Dallas Police Vice Squad, it was found that the City’s sexually-oriented business ordinance doesn’t apply to Christie’s at Greenville and McCommas. This means the adultgift retail shop legally can be within 1,000 feet of a church, a school, or residential zoning. However, Police say they will continue to monitor the situation.
DANCE HALL ZONING UPDATING
Discussion continues on how to handle zoning revisions for dance hall and “adult cabaret” uses. The Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee was to vote on a proposal Feb. 24 and the City Plan Commission will take it up on March 3. The previous staff recommendation, turned down by ZOAC, prohibited all such uses in community retail and commercial service zoning. This would have made dozens of businesses of every de scription non-conforming. The revised staff recommendation, which is likely to pass, would amend the p.arking standards for dance halls to require more on-site parking and to prohibit the use of Delta Credits (a convoluted formula for allowing parking bonuses for older sites with limited parking). This should help inner city neighborhoods. The staff is also recommending a residential adjacency review process for dance halls located within 300 feet of a neighborhood. This can be used as a tool to require landscaping, screening. lighting. specific parking and loading configurations, and other mitigation techniques.
THE QUIET BEFORE THE STORM
The old Western movie cliche uifs quiet out there – too quiet” could easily be applied to the Junius Heights neighborhood right now. While the well-known and exhaustively- covered neighborhood zoning controversy of last summer and fall has been quiet on the surface, the Plan Commission is expected to take another look at the situation March 10. Anything appears to be possible in this continuing donnybrook. The sense here is that, behind the scenes activity is picking up and will soon move the zoning issue back to the front burner.
Jonathan Vinson, a member of the Dallas Plan Commission, writes a monthly column highlighting East Dallas/Lakewood zoning.issues. Send story ideas to him at 6510 Abrams Road, Suite 2
