It’s been a while since East Dallas has seen a good residential rezoning debate. According to this post on the Observer’s Unfair Park, the Abrams-Brookside neighborhood is getting off to a relatively smooth start in their attempts to turn the neighborhood —bordered by Abrams Road, the old Santa Fe railroad track, and the southwest side of the Lakewood Country Club — into a conservation district. The lengthy complicated process required to obtain this designation, and differing ideas about building restrictions, has historically caused neighborhoods, such as Gastonwood Coronado Hills, Maplewood and Casa Linda, much internal struggle.
While the Abrams-Brookside group seems, save one outspoken opponent, to be cooperating with one another, they still have a long way to go. Neil Emmons, who met with the neighbors in hopes of preventing the whole thing from "turning into a bloody battle", told them it could take six months, which is probably very optimistic.
Conservation districts and neighborhood stabilization overlays are tools used by neighborhoods in cooperation with the city to regulate construction and prevent the invasion of the dreaded McMansion.
