THE TIMELINE continued

April 2008

Mixed-use building projects in Downtown and Uptown stall as the city’s commercial real estate market falters following the housing crisis.

Late 2009

INCAP Fund defaults on its loans, and Amegy Bank takes back properties, including the former sites of apartment complexes on West Davis, near Hampton and Rosemont.

February 2010 Dallas wins a $23 million grant from the federal government to build a streetcar from Union Station to Methodist Dallas Medical Center.

August 2010

City council approves the Bishop/Davis rezoning plan. That changed the rules to allow for building heights up to five stories, to reduce parking requirements for old buildings and to discourage automotive-oriented businesses for 340 acres surrounding Bishop Arts.

2011

Donors including Methodist Health System and AIDS Services of Dallas donate to a $50,000 fee for Good Fulton & Farrell to draw up a rezoning plan for the Oak Cliff Gateway, based on suggestions from a city council-appointed committee. Some neighbors and real estate developers criticized the plan for failing to address complete streets.

May 2009

A proposal to rezone BISHOP ARTS and West Davis makes its way to the city plan commission. Architecture firm Good Fulton & Farrell produced the rezoning proposal for $50,000, most of which was paid for by INCAP Fund.

December 2009

Meanwhile, a few blocks north, city council approves boundaries and a development vision plan for the Oak Cliff Gateway.

April 2010

The first Better Block demonstration is staged on Tyler south of Davis to highlight our neighborhood’s need for bike lanes, CAFÉ SEATING and slower traffic in pedestrianheavy areas. This experimental “living charrette” became an industry for its creators and prompted then-City Councilwoman Delia Jasso to advocate for complete streets, improvements that would better accommodate not only cars but also cyclists and pedestrians.

November 2010

Dallas voters approve allowing ALCOHOL SALES in Oak Cliff and other “dry” areas of Dallas. That made it easier for restaurants such as Ten Bells Tavern and Stock & Barrel to open.

Summer 2013

Real estate developer David Spence buys the circa-1922 shopping center on West Davis at Tyler with plans to redevelop it as a campus with shops and restaurants. OAK CLIFF COFFEE ROASTERS was just about to launch its Davis Street Espresso coffee shop in an adjacent former body shop.

What will the Gateway zoning do?

THE GATEWAY PLAN, AS OF SEPTEMBER, utilizes the form-based zoning code, which the city adopted in 2009. Form-based zoning differs from traditional zoning in that it does not focus on building uses, but instead determines how buildings address the street and how buildings relate to their surroundings.

Form-based zoning was designed for use in urban-infill areas, and this is the first time the city has used the tool on such a large area that already has zoning rules. Since form is the basis, the plan does not contain as much in the way of what uses buildings may have.

It does outline how tall buildings may be, which has been a point of contention for some neighbors. Buildings as tall as 20 stories would be allowed at Methodist hospital and near the Trinity River, including the old Oak Farms Dairy and Burnett Field sites, where developers plan to build apartments, shops, offices and parking structures. Buildings as high as 12 stories would be allowed on East Jefferson, from Colorado to Marsalis. Up to eight stories would be allowed along Beckley between Interstate 30 and Colorado, as well as in part of the residential neighborhood east of Beckley. And along the Zang corridor, heights of three to five stories would be allowed.

Neighbors in East Kessler and Kidd Springs have argued that the plan does not require enough of a transition between tall buildings and homes.

The plan encourages walkability and public transportation by requiring businesses to face the street and calling for landscaping standards.

The plan discourages apartments in the Lake Cliff Park area by allowing only single-family homes to be built on teardowns and most vacant lots.

The Gateway zoning plan requires developers to enter a non-binding peer review before their building designs can be approved. A volunteer panel of architects and designers will critique design plans in the hope that it will improve overall design in the district.

Because no plan is perfect, a stipulation would require the Gateway zoning case to be reopened five years from the time it passes so that mistakes can be addressed. This is the first time a mandatory review will have been written into a zoning ordinance.

Where is the height in the Oak Cliff Gateway plan?

Subdistrict I, the sites of the Oak Farms Dairy plant and Burnett Field, could have mixed-use buildings as high as 20 stories.

Subdistrict G, north of Greenbriar to Interstate 30, could have mixed-use buildings as high as eight stories.

Subdistrict H could have mixed-use buildings as high as 12 stories.

Subdistrict F could have mixed-use buildings as tall as five stories. Methodist Dallas Medical Center has proposed making the whole area between Colorado and Greenbriar, from Beckley to Zang, part of Subdistrict I.

Subdistrict B could have residences — houses, apartments, townhomes and condos — as high as three stories.

Subdistrict E could have mixed-use buildings as high as three stories.

No change. These areas, including the Lake Cliff Historic District, would have no change in regard to building heights.

Residential transition zones are designed to transition from heavy density into single-family home districts. Single-family homes and duplexes are allowed.