Mike Harper, left, and Leslie Maturin of the Rezoning DHA Action Group
Dallas Housing Authority told a neighborhood group it is willing to delay a project in Oak Lawn to negotiate with the community to gain its support.
The proposed project would have more units than any other DHA property in Dallas. Neighborhood groups have objected to the size and zoning variances the housing authority proposed for the site, according to the Rezoning DHA Action Group.
DHA told the neighborhood group it is willing to put a number of items into a written agreement to secure its support.
The site plan would be flipped so the entrance would be on Hawthorne Avenue rather than on Kings Road. The neighborhood would like to see any Kings Road entrance used only for emergency vehicles. New, expensive housing is currently being built on Kings Road and at least one complex on that street has recently been renovated.
Parking would be onsite and not on adjacent streets.
Preference would be given to working families on this DHA property.
All one bedroom units would be allocated to disabled or elderly residents.
DHA would provide a police substation on the property, install cameras monitored by Dallas police and reserve one unit for a police officer to live in.
When the former DHA property was demolished, crime in the area plummeted. The number of crimes in the beat where the property is located decreased from 953 criminal offenses in 2011 to 303 in 2013. Neighborhood groups are afraid drug trafficking and other crime would return to the area if the housing authority builds its largest complex on this site.
