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Dallas City Council
Committee Assignments
On Friday, August 29, Mayor Eric Johnson released City Council committee assignments for
the 2025-27 term. Some appointments of note: Mayor Pro-Tem Jesse
Moreno now leads Economic Development, Cara Mendelsohn chairs Housing
& Homelessness Solutions, and Kathy Stewart continues to lead
Parks, Trails & Environment, with additional changes in finance,
safety, and infrastructure committees. Two committees have been
renamed — Finance and Government Efficiency — and the Council
has adopted a new rule requiring all members to
attend standing committee meetings in person.
Park Land Dedication
Ordinance
TREC is working closely with Dallas Park Department staff on
the updated Parkland Dedication Ordinance, which aligns city policy
with the 2023 state law and creates a new fee structure, exemptions
for affordable units, and larger Nexus zones. We continue to advocate
for reasonable fee adjustments and greater predictability between
land dedication and fee-in-lieu options. A proposal is moving forward
and is tentatively scheduled for a City Council vote on September
24.
Zoning Reform
Staff and the city’s zoning consultant, Camiros, briefed City Councilmembers in
August about the process to update its outdated development code
– Ch. 51A – over a multi-year process. Camiros released its Diagnostic Report last March about the challenges of the
current code and the potential restructuring for the future re-write.
The consultant is scheduling additional stakeholder meetings in early
September and accepting written feedback throughout the fall. Learn
more on the city's website and engage with TREC and its
dedicated members who are monitoring this process closely.
The Impact of the 89th
Texas Legislature: SB 840
At the August 22 Development Advisory Council meeting, city
staff provided an update on SB 840, which will require Dallas and other
large cities to allow multifamily and mixed-use residential
development by right in most commercial, office, warehouse, and
retail districts. The law eliminates density caps, sets a minimum
building height of 45 feet, limits setbacks, and reduces parking
requirements for developments that meet the 65 percent residential
requirement. Staff emphasized that while the changes aim to expand
housing options and streamline development, they will also bring some
new compliance reviews and processes. You can read more on the bill’s
impact and implementation processes on the city’s website here. Meanwhile, other neighboring cities
like Arlington, Frisco, Irving,
and Plano rushed to amend their underlying
ordinances to blunt the effect of SB 840.
City Meetings
View upcoming city meetings here.
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