Elsie Faye Heggins Street is a South Dallas Fair Park Area Plan focus area
Elsie Faye Heggins is the main thoroughfare in South Dallas along the eastern side of the community. Originally called Hatcher Street, the street was renamed a decade ago in honor of the South Dallas civil rights leader and City Council member, Elsie Faye Heggins.
The street is a mixture of residential with commercial nodes at key intersections. Like many of the commercial areas in South Dallas, underinvestment from both the public and private side, has contributed to vacancy and property conditions at the commercial nodes.
Future Vision
During engagement through the area plan process and ForwardDallas 2.0, community members and task force members spoke about a revitalized street with mixed use nodes at major intersections and increased residential options along the corridor. In particular, investment in the commercial area at the intersection of 2nd Avenue and Elsie Faye Heggins was highlighted as a potential area for vibrant mixed use development with shopping, dining and additional residential.
The placetype identified along the corridor is a mix of Neighborhood mixed use and community residential. Both placetypes are intended for low rise development. The neighborhood mixed use placetype areas are geared towards retail, commercial, small office, and residential uses. The community residential placetype is primarily focused on smaller scaled residential uses.
Recommendations
Currently, the zoning for the commercial nodes along Elsie Faye Heggins only allows for commercial, retail, office or personal service uses. Residential uses are not allowed. To achieve this future vision, this plan recommends:
- Changing zoning along the commercial areas of Elsie Faye Heggins to allow for both residential and non residential. Allowing residential along this corridor could minimize the housing pressure toward surrounding neighborhoods as well as provide a broader market to the currently struggling commercial areas
Elsie Faye Heggins Street is one of five focus areas in the South Dallas/Fair Park Area Plan. These serve as key areas where efforts and resources should be concentrated to address specific challenges, unlock potential, and stimulate development. These areas were chosen based on their ability to drive meaningful change, such as boosting economic activity, improving community infrastructure, and enhancing quality of life.
Read about the task force’s vision and recommendations for the other four focus areas:
This content was pulled directly from the City of Dallas draft of the South Dallas Fair Park Area Plan, pages 39 and 44. Only minor spelling, grammar and punctuation changes were made.
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Brenda Hernandez-Rodriguez is Dallas Free Press’ 2024-25 Report for America corps member. A bilingual journalist who is passionate about the field, Hernandez says, “I know it has the power to change lives, even sometimes to save lives. Brenda graduated from St. Edward’s University with five internship experiences that prepared her to be a reporter who makes a difference.
When Hernandez is not writing, she enjoys spending time with her dogs, whether watching movies together or walking. Hernandez also proudly calls herself an adventurous foodie and has become a go-to source of advice about where to eat next in her hometown of Austin, Texas.
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