What West Dallas residents want to see in the ForwardDallas update

By Renee Umsted,
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February 23, 2024

West Dallas

City planners hope to have an updated land use policy, called ForwardDallas 2.0, later this year.

Community engagement has been consistent throughout the process, which began in 2021.

At a February City Council meeting, Andrea Gilles, the interim director for Planning & Urban Design, reported that city staff hosted more than 65 virtual events and more than 170 in-person events to discuss ForwardDallas 2.0, the plan that will set guidelines for how land should be used throughout the city. More than 1,600 comments were submitted via the city’s interactive, online map, which was visited over 22,000 times. 

West Dallas residents were among those who provided feedback, sharing their thoughts about how their neighborhoods should look in the future. 

At the beginning of the process, residents of West Dallas reported several land use problems in their neighborhood: housing affordability, urban heat islands, a lack of grocery stores and green space, and industrial facilities near residential areas, among others.

The residents repeated these comments throughout the community engagement process, at in-person events and in submissions to the city’s interactive map. 

Here are a few common themes in the feedback: 

• There are concerns about the many industrial zones in West Dallas, which could have negative effects on nearby residential areas and the environment. 
• Neighbors want more grocery stores and amenities such as parks and pedestrian trails. They also highlighted a few areas in need of cleaning up and appropriate development. 
• There were several comments about ensuring housing affordability and holding onto their homes. 

While there are several elements of the ForwardDallas plan, including land use themes and implementation strategies, the bulk of residents’ feedback relates to placetypes and the placetype map. Click here to read our explainer on placetypes.

Dallas Free Press obtained residents’ comments from several in-person and virtual events, along with those submitted via the interactive map, to create a record of the feedback and determine how the City incorporates it in the land use plan.

Use the graphics below to view the comments regarding West Dallas.

There’s still time to comment on ForwardDallas. Stakeholders may speak at City Plan Commission and City Council meetings, or they can contact Planning and Urban Design at pud@dallas.gov.