After more than a year of public hearings, and amendments, ForwardDallas 2.0 was officially passed by the City of Dallas in an 11-4 vote on Wednesday, Sept. 25.
Earlier in September, the plan was amended to include stricter guidelines about where certain housing types can be built in response to public concern that single-family neighborhoods would lose protections under the new guidelines.
The FowardDallas project has been in the works since September 2021. It’s undergone a multitude of changes since the project’s start. Check out some fast facts about the plan:
- The land-use plan is described as a guidance document planning and zoning initiative, aimed at addressing the city’s historic affordable housing shortage.
- The last update to Dallas’ land-use and urban design elements was in 2006.
- This is the sixth draft of the ForwardDallas 2.0 plan.
The draft’s plan review has been ongoing since the start of 2023, and over the past year, many of the plan’s outlined objectives have been heard or misheard through the grapevine. Let’s clear up what the facts and myths of the plan are:
Facts:
- The plan aims to provide a wider variety of housing options throughout the city.
- The plan does not encourage rezoning of single-family neighborhoods or tearing down existing housing.
- The plan does not eliminate single-family zoning.
Myths:
- The plan rezones a neighborhood’s property — this is false — ForwardDallas 2.0 is a land use planning guide.
- The plan gets rid of single-family zoning — this is false — the plan legally cannot eliminate single-family zoning.
- The plan allows multiplexes to be built on single-family-zoned properties — this is false — ForwardDallas 2.0 does not allow multiplexes on any single-family zoned property in Dallas.
What questions do you have about ForwardDallas 2.0? Send them our way.
