Neighbors Question Space Limitations For Proposed Development
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Thirteen houses on an acre-and-a-half of land -- one North Texas developer says he can do it.
Okay wait. Let's think about this. One acre is 90-percent of 100 yards, or nine-tenth the size of a football field, without the end zones.
Standing in what most would call an average neighborhood, a CBS 11 News crew saw 13 homes on a block that stretched out four or five acres.
The planned development in question may not be big… but neighbors living in the area say their concerns are.
Essentially the new growth would be in the backyard of residents like Katie Blair. "It's peaceful. It's quiet. It's shady," she said of the current neighborhood conditions.
Blair and David Card live in a conservation district. The two neighbors spent hours at Dallas City Hall Thursday, voicing their concerns for the proposal at the corner of East Grand Avenue and Shadyside Lane.
Developer Cadg Shadyside applied for a zoning change to build 13 single-family, detached homes on what is now a heavily treed lot.
"I think we all know something's going to be built there but we want is a lot less dense than 13 homes," Blair said. "Keep all of the trees along the creek as well as the trees that are within the property and maybe some of the wildlife will stay."
Blair's property is already in a flood plain and shares a creek where storm drains empty. She and her neighbors worry about run off from the concrete to come.
"The levels of the creek are up more than we've ever noticed before. And that's before they ever build on this side."
At the very least, opponents voices were heard.
"The concerns raised about it are significant enough that I want to take a strong look at it," said City Councilman Philip Kingston.
The city leader said to begin; the developer would have to settle the flood plain issue. "There are engineers for that kind of thing and I'm told it can be done technically, but it's not an illegitimate fear at all."
Card said after living decades in the area with peace and quiet the plans are hard to accept. "So, I don't see why it's gonna develop there in the future.'
The property is currently zoned commercial. If that changes, Councilman Kingston said the homes that could be built, could have $600,000 price tags – despite being on such small parcels of land.
CBS 11 calls and emails to the developer were not returned Thursday.
The next hearing on the issue is scheduled for August.
(©2014 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Latest News:
Top Trending:
PHOTOS: Your Pet Pictures