Dallas Observer: The Believer, the Skeptic, the Adversary: 3 Locals’ Thoughts on ForwardDallas
The Adversary: Douglas Newby
His Credentials: Newby is a Realtor and savant of all home-related issues in Dallas. His self-published blog has hundreds of entries on everything from preservation and short-term rentals, to urban growth and ForwardDallas.
His Thoughts on ForwardDallas: Newby has been a resident of Old East Dallas since the early ’70s, time that has afforded him the chance to witness the “worst neighborhood” in Dallas become one of the most well-regarded.
When he moved in, Newby says, the neighborhood was made up of duplex, triplex and quadplex apartments that encouraged overly dense living situations, transience and crime. Zoning that made single-family homes a requisite and built out the neighborhood’s Historic Districts are what, in his mind, saved the area.
Now, Newby believes the city is going back to a 50-year-old zoning plan that will harm his beloved neighborhood, and he believes they’ve been sneaky about doing so.
“They have stated that they have had hundreds of meetings with homeowners associations and community groups and listened to what the community wants,” Newby told the Observer. “Every single homeowners association group that they have talked to, the homeowners have said ‘We do not want apartments added to our neighborhood.’”
But even with Ridley’s amendments, which he says clarify the difference between land use placetypes and zoning, many homeowners still believe that as soon as the document is passed, they’ll be living next door to an apartment complex. In Newby’s case, there is concern that ForwardDallas will have a negative effect on single-family neighborhoods and the affordable housing market.
Over his career he has observed the developer market, and worries that ForwardDallas’ flexible allowances for diverse housing types will result in developers snapping up the cheapest lots on every city block and flipping the homes. Because of the high costs of construction right now, the rent on those units ends up being unaffordable to most, he says.
“Every time they add a duplex or triplex or fourplex, they are eliminating an affordable home,” Newby said. “Apartments cost more per square foot to build than single family homes cost per square foot to build, and the existing housing stock and older housing stock is the greatest opportunity for affordable housing. That’s what they want to eliminate to get more density.”
Newby does believe that Dallas needs to prioritize building apartments, but that placing apartments in the neighborhoods that are “the greatest assets in Dallas” is the city shooting itself in the foot. At a time when people choosing to leave Dallas County are outpacing those who choose to live here, Newby believes ForwardDallas will keep the city on a track going in the wrong direction.
“Cities are getting hollowed out where they have rich people in high rises, they have low-income people and the middle-income people move out,” Newby said. “Why wouldn’t you want to give confidence to homeowners and invest in the city rather than undermine their confidence in a neighborhood? Every time they build an apartment in a neighborhood, that’s going to disappoint homeowners and make them less likely to stay.”
