Why Oppose: City Misrepresents Facts at Draft Presentation Meeting 10/29/2024
City Misrepresents Their Own Survey
Did Willis Winters approve the Inventory that says we are 75% Contributing?
Did the Committee Manipulate the Inventory? YES.
Neighborhood Committee Manipulation Examples
Did the City follow the process for an expansion?
MAP SHOWS MOST NEIGHBORS OPPOSE CD2-EXPANSION
STATS
Opposed to CD2x: 135
Pro CD2x: 63
The connection between CD2 and the CD2 Expansion is overwhelmingly opposed, making the Expansion Area ineligible for Expansion Status. With support on only two blocks of Lakewood, a CD there would be NEW, not an Expansion. By statute, the process must start over.
Homeowners Opposed to the CD2 Expansion
Why Oppose: City Doesn’t Deserve Our Trust:
Extras Snuck Into — and Out of! — THE DRAFT
With the searchable transcriptions of every meeting provided by neighborhood Wes Martin (shout out to Wes!), we discovered provisions snuck into the ordinance without neighborhood input ... more
Why Oppose: Neighborhood Committee Spin
Did the Latest Draft Change Anything?
You decide. Below is an excerpt from an email the Neighborhood Committee Head sent touting 23 draft changes. Nearly all of the changes were the removal of extras snuck into the draft released 1/19/2024 without neighborhood input …more
Dallas Morning News Opinion, May 15, 2024
Lakewood scrum shouldn’t even be happening
With so much dissent, city should have put proposed conservation district expansion to rest a while back… more
A sign outside a home along Tokalon Drive lets passersby know how the homeowners feel about the proposed expansion of the Lakewood Conservation District. (Staff Photo)
Dallas Cothrum is a former tenured faculty member at the University of Texas System and current president of Masterplan, a Milrose company. He is also a contributing columnist for The Dallas Morning News.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD COMMITTEE IS PULLING UP THE LADDER ON THE REST OF US
Please look at their houses at compare them to the Revised Draft of September 13, 2024. You will see that their houses have many of the elements they seek to prohibit for the rest of us:
Would CD2 Homeowners Live Under the CD2 Expansion Regulations?
Let’s ask them. Download and send the comparison below to your friends in CD2 if they would be willing to live under the 56 pages of restrictions for the Expansion.
If the Neighborhood Committee thought the CD2 rules were enough, they would have done a true Expansio, pulling the blanket of CD2 regulations over a few more blocks
However, the Neighborhood Committee and the City repeatedly stated in Neighborhood Meetings that the 1988 CD2 was an early CD and lacked teeth. Even in the Draft Presentation Meeting on February 13, 2024, the Chief Planner said of CD2, “We’ve learned a lot since then.”
Is the plan to impose these regulations on CD2 homeowners in the future? All it takes is a Committee of Ten and they all still live right here in Lakewood.
Comparison, Original CD vs. Expanded
(courtesy of Wes Martin, 7031 Lakeshore)
In the February 6, 2024 Mtg:
City “Expertise” Contradicts Neighbor Decisions – It’s a 2-Story Fiasco
This process lacks credibility. For the first time ever last Tuesday night, the City’s Chief Planner said he changed what neighbors decided in meetings based on staff’s “expertise.” That’s absolutely unbelievable. It’s completely contrary to everything that we’ve been told. To satisfy one person, Chief Planner Trevor Brown changed …more
French Normans Fall Through The Cracks of Ignorance
Neighborhood Committee and City both omit the entire category of 20 homes that were Charles Dilbeck’s specialty.
WHY OPPOSE THE CD2 EXPANSION
Let’s start here: No is against preserving historic houses. We support historic preservation but a CD is not the way to do this.
Petition Process
We oppose a process in which a handful of people mislead their neighbors to get signatures on a Petition.
City Approval Process (aka Determination of Eligibility)
Misleading Inventory in Determination of Eligibility Slides By Unverified by the City
- The Neighborhood Committee reported that 75% of us live in Tudor, Spanish Eclectic, Neoclassical, Minimal Traditional, Colonial Revival, or French Eclectic houses.
- During Neighborhood Meetings, they immediately removed “Minimal Traditional from Contributing Styles, to drop the percentage to 68%.
- An Expert Report on the Inventory of our homes shows errors in 165 of our 275 houses.
- Actual Contributing: 42% of Expansion Area.
What’s the Impact of a Misleading Inventory?
Questionable Approval of the Determination of Eligibility
- The Expansion appears “similar to and compatible with the physical attributes of the established CD.”(Dallas Ordinance 51A-4.505e(2)bii).
- A 42%-Contributing area is approved in a City in which the average Contributing is 91%
- The City would not correct the Inventory, saying it would come out with the Ordinance. This tactic masks the above-mentioned problems.
- This forced neighbors to hire an expert to correct the Inventory. Cost to neighbors: $2990.
We object to the City making up a process in which a new CD is disguised as an Expansion.
The CD Expansion is the most Restrictive CD in Dallas
An 2015 overhaul of the CD Creation Process aimed at promoting transparency created different tracks for New CDs vs. Expansions vs. Amendments.
In the Expansion process, no post-petition neighborhood meetings are authorized.
Yet, the City:
- Held 15 unauthorized meetings, creating an “expansion” which has nothing to do with the original CD;
- And presented inaccurate data during neighborhood meetings.
The City presented information compiled by the Neighborhood Committee as Exhibit C during Neighborhood Meetings 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 to lead us through a process that does not reflect our neighborhood, especially architectural styles.
Is this professional or excusable?
Bad Data Presented in Neighborhood Meetings 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15
See slides shown for each of the meetings.
Should the City consider an expansion in which less than 50% of the houses are Contributing?
The average in Dallas is 91% Contributing.
CD2 is 85% Contributing.
What are the consequences of submitting a misleading Inventory to the CIty?
Should citizens have to hire an expert or should the City review applications thoroughly?
Willis Winters’s Report on House Styles in the Lakewood Expansion Area.
We Hired Willis Winters to Go Through The Inventory and Give a Comprehensive List of Accurate Styles
The results were shocking.
Does the Neighborhood Committee speak for Lakewood Neighbors?
“The neighborhood is concerned that without a conservation district, they may face substantial inappropriate redevelopment and encroachment into the neighborhood.”
Neighborhood Committee Statement, Application for CD2 Expansion (Determination of Eligibility)
The quote above is in the Committee’s first submission to the City that kicked off the CD-2 Expansion. It’s posted on the City’s website (page 7). In that same document, Page 33 shows the below example of “inappropriate redevelopment” that “the neighborhood” says MUST BE STOPPED –
If you want to see what the Neighborhood Committee says is fueling “the neighborhood’s” collective outrage, buy a ticket today and go through this home. The house in progress(above) and finished (below) is an example of what “the neighborhood” needs a Conservation District to prevent was on the 2023 Lakewood Home Tour. The Home Tour Organizers caled 6949 Lakewood is an “exquisite home.” And it is. Maybe the Lakewood Early Childhood PTA didn’t get the message that “the neighborhood” thinks this house is “destroying the character of our neighborhood”….
Stop letting the 10 Neighborhood Committee members speak for you: Sign on to Oppose.
How Does My House Fit In?
See what choices you have made that will be prohibited in the proposed CD2 Expansion under You in CD2 Expansion.
From Paul Blackmon’s Newsletter
NoToCD2.com supports Paula’s message. We don’t tolerate hateful messages about our neighbors, and we won’t silently applaud any effort that uses hate and threats as tactics to discourage the exercise of perfectly legal rights.
Proposed CD vs. Dallas 16 Current CDS
The Proposed Lakewood CD2 Expansion will be the most restrictive Conservation District in Dallas History.
The Lakewood CD2 Expansion will be the only CD that has:
- Has a Demo Clause
- Restricts Non-Contributing Remodels
- Probits painting of brick
The Current CD2 doesn’t do any of these. It also didn’t redefine Demolition like the proposed CD2 Expansion.
While most CDs regulate some things, the proposed expansion regulates EVERYthing.
Why?
New CD v. Expansion
When a new CD starts, neighbors agree on categories to regulate BEFORE a petition starts. They can, therefore, narrow down what is regulated.
In an Expansion, neighbors sign a petition and lose control immediately. New areas to regulate can be added, such as redefining Demolition.
Demo Clause and Consequences
Part of only 4 other CDs in Dallas, a Demo Clause means contributing houses can never be torn down, like the one below at 7038 Lakeshore, designated by the Neighborhood Committee as a Contibuting Spanish Eclectic:
Unlike the Current CD2, remodeling a Non-Contributing Home in the Proposed Expansion Is Severely Restricted
I know what was said during Petitioning. . . the discussions that happened in however long we’ve talked about Styles, it evolved to where we are because if Non-Contributing has no regulation then someone could apply for a remodel of a NC home, take it down to a couple of walls and then rebuild like that black house on Heath that everyone, most people, hate.”
Summer Loveland, Head of the Neighborhood Committee, Neighborhood Meeting 15.
Painting Prohibition
The prohibition on painting brick or stone does not reflect our neighborhood. It is also used in only 2 of Dallas’ current CDs.
Were Historic Homes Torn Down in the CD Expansion Area?
No, historic homes were not torn down.
The Committee went door-to-door, pitching the CD to save Historic homes. They mentioned 12 tear downs in 2 years.
But it turns out that none of these tear downs was a historic home. To see pictures of each tear down and its replacement, see Tear Downs: Fact Check.
An Expansion Means Rules Will Be Like CD2, Right?
No. The Expansion is much more detailed than the Original CD2.
City Code vs. CD2 vs. Expansion Details
The Proposed Expansion is a beast compared to the current CD2. The sheer size of the Expansion Details should give you pause.
The Proposed Expansion is a beast compared to the current CD2. The sheer size of the Expansion Details should give you pause.
Building Approvals in CD2 took 7 Weeks in 2022-2023
Lakewood Advocate Tells Our Side of the Story
Tokalon neighbors rally to oppose Lakewood Conservation District Expansion
Letter from a Frustrated Homeowner
Creating or expanding conservation districts is a bad idea. These districts limit a homeowner’s ability to make changes and improvements to their own homes, and when they’re ready to sell, have a chilling effect on buyers, who quickly realize the additional cost & headaches they will endure to make the house their own.
It’s, at best, optimistic to believe that conservation districts protect and maintain the character & charm of a neighborhood. In my experience, cds give legal weight to the opinions of a small group of homeowners–about your house & property, your paint color choices, your gutters, your driveway, your mailbox, and on and on and on . . . more
Neighborhood Committee Email of June 6, 2023
Fact Check: Architectural Style, Size, Paint, Windows.
Correspondence with City Plan Commissioner for District 9.
A letter from NotoCD2 representative Brad Broberg gives a clear and detailed synopsis of the issues and flaws in the process for the Proposed Expansion of CD2.
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CDs Create Headaches Elsewhere in Dallas Covered by Lakewood Advocate
Expert Advice From
Rob Richmond,
Neighbor and Former Chair of the Board of Adjustments
ROB RICHMOND, OUR NEIGHBOR, CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF ADJUSTMENT CITY OF DALLAS
I represented Lakewood on the Dallas Plan Commission for 6 years (92-98’) and am very familiar with the process for creating, amending or abolishing zoning categories. I also served as the chair of the Board of Adjustment for 7 years (05-12’), under three different mayors, and saw first-hand the horror of
homeowners trying to deal with the deadly dual bureaucracies of Planning & Urban Design (zoning) and Development Services (Building Inspection).
Mr. Richmond’s full letter has more information that is well worth your time.
They are currently tearing down 2 historic homes at a time to replace them with one larger home at an alarming rate on Lakeshore drive. It’s already happened three times in the last two years and other are currently or soon to be underway. If unchecked, lakeshore will look completely different in a decade. To me, that isn’t preserving our neighborhood.
Thank you for your comment, Nellson. It is distressing to see anyone’s home torn down, I agree. But neither of the tear downs you mentioned are of historic according to the Neighborhood Committee.
The Committee designated both 6903 LakeWOOD and 6856 Lakeshore as Noncontributing Inventory.
We can’t know that these two properties are being torn down because of the proposed ordinance, but Trevor Brown of the City’s Department of Urban Planning and Development says a rush for permits prior to the establishment of a Conservation District is both legal and very common. When the ordinance goes through:
1. Homeowners have to first be approved by the Department of Urban Planning and Development.
2. Go through a seperate permitting process with the City of Dallas.
Delays, redesigns, approval of redesigns all cost a lot of money.
This started before the proposed change, and it may be one of the main causes of the proposed change. There is a lot of confusing language involved in these situations, but I would encourage anyone who is seeking to know more take a walk on lakeshore between Pearson and Oakwood and come to your own conclusion. Classic ranch styles are being torn down two at a time to make room for one single home with limited lot lines.
I would argue that this would have never happened on lakeshore if it was already included in the CD.
I appreciate your respectful and courteous discourse on the subject, but I think that we need this to protect the character of our neighborhood. Again…. Just walk down lakeshore and see if you like what is happening.
Please provide addresses in which two ranch houses are being torn down to make room for one single home within the Expansion District for verification.