Dallas City Council greenlit Fair Park’s long-awaited community park on Wednesday, delighting South Dallas community leaders and giving an embattled nonprofit permission to build the multimillion-dollar project.

“I just can’t thank you all enough for unifying, for fighting, for advocating, for not accepting ‘No,’” said council member Adam Bazaldua, who represents Fair Park’s district, to neighborhood leaders.

The nonprofit Fair Park First has been awaiting a development agreement from the city as millions in grant funding neared a March deadline. The group has already raised more than $30 million for the park. Over the past several months, city and community leaders have been evaluating whether the nonprofit was ready to deliver the 10-acre park at the city-owned fairgrounds.

On Wednesday, council members voted unanimously in favor of a contract, even though some have expressed concerns. The nonprofit has faced scrutiny since 2024, after nearly $6 million in misspent donor funds were disclosed. Last year, the city cut ties with the nonprofit and Oak View Group, Fair Park’s venue manager. The community project’s future was left undecided.

Fair Park project faces urgency

The city’s Park Board president assembled a task force in December to review Fair Park First’s readiness. In January, the City Council took oversight of the contract consideration from the Park Board as tensions grew over delays in the process. South Dallas leaders urged progress.

“Our community does not need another committee or more delays,” said Diane Ragsdale, a former council member and South Dallas advocate. “We need action. We deserve equitable public investment, strong health protections and a high quality of life for each resident. To abandon this project now would represent yet another clear breach of public trust.”

Ragsdale said the park was thoughtfully planned by people in South Dallas, noting numerous meetings. The park is part of a decadeslong effort to repair damage after the city razed homes to build parking lots at Fair Park, and would replace parking spaces at the fairgrounds, serving nearby neighborhoods.

Bazaldua said Black residents experienced displacement “at the hands of the very institution meant to protect them.”

“There were homes there. There were front porches. There were neighbors who knew each other’s names,” Bazaldua said at a news conference after the vote.

The park will offer restoration, Bazaldua said, a vibrant space for people who “have waited far too long for equitable investment.” The park, planned near Exposition and South Fitzhugh avenues, is expected to include a host of amenities, with an estimated projected cost of just over $40 million.

The new contract is expected to come with a number of guardrails and the city would own improvements made at the fairgrounds. With the agreement, Fair Park first would:

• Be held to a set of deadlines
• Be responsible for all permits
• Give briefings to City Council
• Allow a city audit
• Allow for a city-appointed, nonvoting board member for financial oversight

City oversight

At Wednesday’s City Council meeting, council member Cara Mendelsohn asked deputy park director Ryan O’Connor about an audit of the funding. He said the city had received a preliminary audit, as a draft, which the department planned to share with the council in the coming months.

Mendelsohn said she was hesitant to support the project without the audit findings, but she would be in favor because of the park’s importance.

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“I don’t think there’s anybody on this council that doesn’t want the park to happen, including me,” Mendelsohn said. “I’m concerned about the timing and that we really should be waiting for this forensic audit.”

Bazaldua said Fair Park First has undergone several audits. City leaders have also questioned Fair Park First’s ability to meet its goals.

“I don’t think you’re gonna hit your timeline,” Mendelsohn said. “I think it’s overly aggressive, probably unnecessarily overly aggressive.”

Jason Brown, Fair Park First’s board chair, said more context is needed around the project and its progress, which has completed its design and development phase.

“We didn’t just start working on this six months ago,” he said.

‘Stronger sense of connection’

City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert thanked the council and community leaders in a statement, adding that the park will transform underused space into a vibrant, welcoming destination for South Dallas.

“The investment will honor the historic Fair Park neighborhoods while delivering new green space to play and gather, and a stronger sense of connection for the residents who have advocated for this project for so many years,” she said.

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South Dallas community leaders rejoiced after the vote. Some had questioned the city’s attention to the park, pointing to other projects across the city, including Halperin Park, a deck park in southern Dallas that is nearing completion.

The new agreement represents trust and the city honoring commitments to people who live near Fair Park, welcoming visitors and hosting major events, said Norma Shaw with theFair Park Estates Neighborhood Association.

Too often, she said, Fair Park’s benefits have not flowed back into nearby neighborhoods. “For decades, our community has supported Fair Park as a regional and national destination,” Shaw said. “A community park is not a luxury. It is a basic infrastructure. It is a safe place for children to play, for seniors to walk, for families to gather and for neighbors to build relationships.”

What’s next

Fair Park First leaders are taking aim at a groundbreaking as early as August, with a goal of completion in late 2027. The nonprofit has about a $7.5 million funding gap to close within six months of the agreement to reach its goal of about $40.7 million.

Brown said the agreement gives the nonprofit more authority to fundraise for the project and he was grateful city leaders were able to work toward a common goal and come up with a solution to the delay.

“It gives us confidence to know that we can start making these expenses, start paying things to move the project further along,” Brown said.

This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.