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The Real Estate Council is
actively monitoring issues at the state and local level that impact
the commercial real estate industry and our partners. Our mission is
to build a better city – and public policy is an essential component
of that vision.
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Early Voting Ongoing For March 5 State of Texas
Primary Elections
Early voting for the
Texas Primary Elections is currently open and will run through
Friday, March 1. After thoroughly vetting the contested area races on
the ballot for this election, TREC PAC has issued the following endorsements:
- Senate District
16: Democratic
Primary - Sen. Nathan Johnson
- House District 33: Republican Primary - Rep. Justin
Holland
- House District 66: Republican Primary - Rep. Matt
Shaheen
- House District 67: Republican Primary - Rep. Jeff
Leach
- House District 98: Republican Primary - Rep. Giovanni
Capriglione
- House District
100:
Democratic Primary - Rep. Venton Jones
- House District
108: Republican
Primary - Rep. Morgan Meyer
- House District
112: Republican
Primary - Rep. Angie Chen Button
"The 88th Texas Legislature was one
of the most impactful for our industry and our state in recent
history, and underscored the need for strong, principled leadership
from our elected officials in Austin. We believe that the candidates
we have selected for endorsement exemplify the type of leaders our
state needs at this moment, and we look forward to continuing to work
with them in the coming years to advance TREC's principles of
pro-growth, pro-development policy at the state level."
-TREC PAC Chair Michael Blackwell
If you have one of
these TREC PAC-endorsed candidates on your ballot,
please be sure to show up and support them during Early Voting or on
Election Day on March 5.
We would also like to thank our TREC PAC members and Board of
Directors for the incredible work they do vetting candidates for
elected office on behalf of our industry. If you would like to
participate
in the process and support TREC's advocacy work, we invite you to
join TREC PAC.
As an additional benefit of your TREC PAC membership, you will enjoy
free admission to the TREC Public Policy Reception at the home of
Kathy and Harlan Crow on Thursday, April 25.
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Dallas City Manager Resignation
On Wednesday, February
21, Dallas City Manager T.C. Broadnax announced his resignation
from the city, effective June 3. City
Council is expected to begin discussion on the process to select a
new City Manager at a Special Called Meeting at 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday,
February 27. You can livestream the meeting here.
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2024
Capital Bond: Following a year’s
worth of meetings by the appointed Citizens Bond Task Force, numerous
briefings to City Council, and countless hours of testimony from
Dallas citizens, Council called for a special May election to allow
voters to decide whether to approve a $1.25 billion Capital Bond Program. The
program will appear as ten separate propositions on the May 4 ballot,
with each proposition funding specific city priorities, such as
Streets & Transportation ($521 million), Parks & Recreation
($345 million), Public Safety ($90 million) and others. The full list
of specific projects to be paid for with bond dollars is still being
finalized and is expected to be complete by the end of February.
Development
Services Department Fee Increases: The
Development Services Department fees increase will be discussed at
the March 27 City Council meeting. TREC continues to work with city
staff to answer outstanding questions, including the potential
budgetary impacts of a phased implementation approach and
implementation steps associated with the changes. TREC will share the
information we receive from city staff with the development community
when received.
Engineering
Q-Team Rollout: On
March 1, the Development Services Department plans to go live with a
pilot program for the Engineering Q-Team. This program is modeled
after the large commercial project Q-Team and is intended to provide
options for expedited engineering reviews for qualifying projects.
TREC and several TREC members attended the February 15 briefing hosted
by the Department where technical experts from the Dallas engineering
community provided several recommendations for improvements to the
proposed program. How the department plans to incorporate the
feedback into its rollout of this new and untested program remains to
be seen, but TREC remains committed to working with staff to
continuously improve existing department processes.
Parking
Reform: On January 30, the
city’s Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee voted to approve recommendations to
overhaul the city’s off-street parking requirements. The City Plan
Commission is expected to receive their first briefing on the code amendments in
April.
ForwardDallas: Advocates
for the city’s update to the Comprehensive Land Use Plan known as
ForwardDallas have been working overtime during
the last month to combat misinformation
about what is and what is not included
in the plan. For example, the plan does recommend land use
patterns, but it does not change city zoning. Currently, the
plan is being briefed to the City Plan Commission and is still
expected to be considered for final adoption by City Council in June.
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Manage Your Preferences
The
Real Estate Council
3100 McKinnon Street, Suite 1150 Dallas, TX 75201
214.692.3600 | recouncil.com
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