Homes along Lakewood Boulevard in the existing CD No. 2. Photo by Renee Umsted
Plans to create a new Lakewood Conservation District are moving forward with petition requirements met.
The neighborhood committee leading the effort has received signed petitions from at least 58% of residents in the proposed expansion area. Though it’s called an expansion, the conservation district, if approved, would have its own ordinance.
The petitions are not a vote to adopt a new conservation district; they are only signaling that the signees want to see the process continue.
Though the threshold has been met, the neighborhood committee is still allowing neighbors to sign petitions. The deadline to turn in petitions to Planning and Urban Design staff at the City of Dallas is June 27, but the neighborhood committee wants “to demonstrate to the City Plan Commission and City Council the full level of neighborhood support,” they say in an email update.
All of the signed petitions will be turned in to the City of Dallas by then, and then City staff has 30 days to verify the petitions. If all the boxes are checked, post-application meetings will begin.
The first pre-application meeting for the conservation district was May 23 at the Filter Building at White Rock Lake. Residents who live in the proposed expansion area and in the existing Lakewood Conservation District, CD No. 2, expressed mixed opinions about living in a conservation district.
Though some neighbors are in favor of creating a conservation district to preserve architectural features and the character of the neighborhood, other residents had concerns about issues that could come up during renovations and how the conservation district would affect property values.
