Demolition permits have been filed for the old Dallas ISD headquarters at 3700 Ross Ave. (Photo by Emily Charrier)

Developers tear down old buildings all the time in neighborhoods where multistory condos are coming up like toadstools after a Gulf Coast rain.

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But City Councilman Philip Kingston has a plan to slow demolition for old buildings in Old East Dallas and Uptown.

He is proposing to expand the city’s 2-year-old demolition delay overlay.

A 45-day wait would be required before tearing down properties that are 50 years or older and lie within the proposed expansion area.

Here is a map of the area:

The delay gives the city time to hold meetings with property owners about alternatives to demolition.

The city’s current demolition delay overlay covers parts of Downtown and Oak Cliff. In those neighborhoods, a qualifying property must be 50 years or older and have one of these designations:

Located in a National Register District,
a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark​,
a State Archeological Landmark,
a National Historic Landmark,
listed as a significant building in the 2003 Downtown Dallas Architecturally Significant Properties Survey ​
or listed as a contributing structure in the 1994 Hardy-Heck-Moore survey​.

But Kingston wants the Old East Dallas and Uptown overlay to touch any property that’s 50 years or older, regardless of any designation.

The Dallas City Plan Commission could hold a hearing on this matter in late March.

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