Back Talk Oak Cliff

Davis/Bishop land use study: Take the survey

Up until this point, the committee of neighbors studying possible zoning changes along Davis and Bishop have been collecting informal feedback, but an official survey is now posted online on committee member and Lake Cliff resident Michael Mendoza's blog, on which he's been posting updates of the group's progress since May.

The survey includes three questions, and Oak Cliff residents are encouraged to give their feedback:

1)  Without agreeing to the current recommendations, do you believe that there is a need to implement a holistic plan for the area that will determine the kind of development that will happen in our community?  

2)  Do you think that the recommendations made by Good, Fulton and Farrell are appropriate? 

3)  If not, what modifications would you recommend?

Bishop/Davis land use study: Thoughts from Val Haskell

Land use study committee member Val Haskell told me a lot of interesting things that I didn't have the space to include in November's story. She's one of 12 neighbors appointed to the committee by either Mayor Pro Tem Elba Garcia or Councilman Dave Neumann, and she lives in the Kings Highway Conservation District.

What's happening on Davis, Haskell says, is a lot of dynamic, organic change, and the process of the land use study is about trying to get the kind of change Oak Cliff neighbors want. "It's preparation for what we know is coming and making sure what comes is more of what we want instead of less of what we want," she says. "Personally, I would love to be able to walk from my home down to Bishop Arts and have an interesting urban streetscape and one that, if I wanted to run a few errands, I could."

"The neighborhoods have different flavors, too, so there’s an attempt to honor the flavors," Haskell says. "We have to make sure Bishop Arts continues to do really well, and if we can help Davis do well, Bishop Arts will do better and better. I think of it in terms of little nodes and how do we connect these nodes better — Bishop Arts, then Gloria's and Bolsa, then Kavala — how do we make it great in between those pieces, and what do we want as a neighborhood? I hope we are able to facilitate or expedite the kind of change that we want."

Davis/Bishop Corridor study: ‘Progress is meeting Oak Cliff’

The tension between history and gentrification was thick in the air last week during the first neighborhood meeting to discuss the Davis/Bishop Corridor. Larry Good, president of Dallas architecture firm Good, Fulton & Farrell, has headed up the committee of 12 Oak Cliff “stakeholders”, as he calls them, since May, and he made the presentation of the committee’s proposal.

People seemed to like the committee’s goals, which were presented right off the bat. They include statements like “Protect the stability of neighborhoods in the corridor, including architectural integrity” and “Encourage shopping and dining locally, supporting neighborhood establishments.”