In all the kafuffle over the proposed White Rock Lake high-rise, we’ve overlooked the man whose opinion may matter most
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Bob Weiss didn’t quite know what he was getting into when he agreed to be a Dallas plan commissioner.
He’d been looking for a way to engage in city affairs, both because he believes it’s his civic duty and because he’s an empty nester whose job at the Meadows Foundation provides him a fair amount of flexibility.
That’s how he wound up at a neighborhood budget briefing last fall where he chatted afterward with longtime acquaintance Gary Griffith, who represents District 9 on the City Council. It turned out that Griffith was looking to appoint a new city plan commissioner because then-commissioner Bill “Bulldog” Cunningham had moved outside the district into a Turtle Creek high-rise. That wasn’t a problem in the city’s view, but it violated Griffith’s personal requirements for appointees and was catching him flak from a few constituents. So a month after their initial conversation, Griffith nominated Weiss as Cunningham’s replacement.
“I know about zoning issues and land use through my job, and I like the neighborhood, so I thought, why not?” Weiss says. “I didn’t figure there would be anything big in District 9 — we’re basically residential.”
Weiss says it wasn’t until his February confirmation that he began to hear murmurs about the 25-story high-rise that developer Emerald Isle Partners was hoping to build on the east side of White Rock Lake — somewhat surprising given that partner Mark Miller spent the previous summer pitching the concept to nearby businesses and neighborhood associations. But as Griffith points out, after Miller’s campaign ended, no one heard from him for months.
And the developer hadn’t yet filed an official proposal with the plan commission, so Weiss says he wasn’t paying much attention.
“In my world-view, if it hasn’t been filed, it doesn’t exist,” Weiss says.
Acknowledged or not, the project was far from dead. Emerald Isle Partners resurrected a truncated version in its May filing, dropping one of the most controversial projects ever proposed for our neighborhood into the lap of the Plan Commission rookie. What happens next depends largely on Weiss, who’s keeping his views close to his vest.
“I have opinions,” he says, “but I’m not sharing them.”
The reason is that Weiss says he sees himself as mediator between the neighborhood associations (including three that voted to oppose the high-rise) and the developer (who claims that the revised plan with 10 stories of condos and three stories of parking meets with approval from the majority of neighbors). His goal is to help these warring factions find middle ground before he stakes his claim.
“That is my basic politics and style. I don’t see myself as pro this or pro that — my personal view is that each case is discreet, and you have to look at it in all its facets,” Weiss says. “That’s not to say I don’t have opinions when we vote.”
He doesn’t appear be influenced by political ties. Weiss says he has no intention of running for office, though he’s well aware that the Plan Commission is considered a training ground for future council members. (After all, it was the springboard for current members, including Griffith.) But Weiss insists the job isn’t a stepping-stone for him, and what’s more, his contract with the Meadows Foundation precludes him from political aspirations.
Not even Griffith will hold sway over where Weiss comes down on this issue. Part of their agreement before Weiss took the job was that Griffith would not tell him how to vote.
Weiss is quick to point out, though, that the Plan Commission is only a recommending body. Griffith is the elected official; the ultimate buck stops with him, Weiss says. But while Griffith intends to lend general thoughts to the process, he makes clear that “Bob is the principal leader at this point.”
The project stands in a state of limbo. City staff recently pulled the Emerald Isle Partners proposal from the Plan Commission agenda, and Weiss believes it won’t come to a vote until additional talks between neighbors and the developer take place.
The pressure point in the argument is height — probably because it’s the easiest factor to understand, Weiss says. Current zoning allows a developer to take the two-plus acre site where Emerald Isle Partners wants to build and construct something as tall as 54 feet, essentially up to the tree line. But Miller’s project, as presently conceived, would ascend to a height of 195 feet.
“I’m very troubled by the height,” Weiss says, “and I’m hearing most people would say ‘no’ to looking at a 195-foot structure on the lake.”
Neighbors who have shared their two cents with Weiss are also concerned about a possible domino effect on development around the lake. Only a couple of people have conveyed their support, Weiss says, expressing their belief that it will be the impetus for revitalization along Garland Road.
In other words, both sides are interested in the future of our neighborhood, and Weiss, who lives in Lakewood and claims that he’s therefore “not going to do anything that’s harmful to District 9,” finds himself in the same camp. He’s convinced that while the prospect of a high-rise on White Rock Lake is significant, it’s less of an end-all than it is a metaphor for development in East Dallas.
“We can get fixated on this. We need to get above the trees, pardon the pun. Mark’s project is important in the moment, but the big issue is the long term: How do we use [Garland] Road as a defining element? To center on only two acres misses the big picture,” Weiss says.
“The people who’ve lived here a long time want to be part of a process that really fulfills the Garland Road vision. They don’t want that to be defined by one person, and I believe they’re very sincere.”
Weiss confesses that he worries about gentrification. Not everyone who drives up and down Garland Road is wealthy, he says, and there’s something to be said for “a place to be ordinary.” Sure, it wouldn’t hurt if someone wanted to breathe a little life into Casa Linda Plaza, but “it’s not exactly dead,” Weiss says, adding that if every shopping center in Dallas housed high-end boutiques, then no basic retail options would exist for residents who just want to shop for essentials.
“What I hear is: We don’t want to be left out — we’re young families moving in, we’re older people who have lived here, we’re idiosyncratic in some places, we’re homogenous in other places, we have very wealthy people and we have less wealthy people, and we all manage to live together,” Weiss says. “That’s what we still have left in East Dallas is that stable middle class neighborhood, and I for one don’t apologize for it. It seems to me a pretty damn good thing.”
What that means for the proposed high-rise at White Rock Lake is still up for debate, one that Weiss plans to umpire over the next few weeks in meetings with Miller and neighborhood leaders. He hopes to wrap up the discussions soon so that everyone with a stake in the issue can move forward.
Weiss admits he favors some quality residential development on the site, though he won’t outline any height specifications. Griffith is a little more forthcoming, saying he doesn’t envision a building much taller than something in the 60- to 65-foot range.
“Whether a developer will want to build something like that, that’s what I don’t know,” Griffith says.
Weiss hopes that Miller and the neighbors can find a compromise, and that city staff, which makes recommendations before the plan commission votes, will back it up. Otherwise, he’ll have to take sides — something he’s willing to do, but only as a last resort.
“No one will ever doubt where I’ll come down on this,” Weiss says, “but the process needs to work some more.”
