One of the major challenges of addressing Dallas’ housing shortage is developing new supply and adding density while protecting the single-family neighborhoods residents have worked so hard to be a part of.

Last month, the City Plan Commission approved a rezoning request for West Oak Cliff’s little Jimtown neighborhood that strikes a nice balance of both. How? It prevents multifamily development while offering a unique option: “granny flats.”

Roughly five years in the making, all that’s left is for Dallas City Council members to approve the rezoning. We urge them to do so.

The area up for rezoning is actually only a portion of the broader Jimtown area. It’s situated just southwest of Clarendon Drive and Hampton Road and includes 50 properties. The areas surrounding it are mostly zoned for single-family residential, but this one section is currently zoned for multifamily uses.

Residents started the formal rezoning process in 2019. Before that, they had attended a meeting in which they found out their homes were zoned for multifamily use, said neighborhood association president Mary Lou Paras. Most had assumed they were zoned for single-family use.

Once they found out, fear of redevelopment drove the community to come together and ask the city to act, Paras said.

Paras described the neighborhood’s many community meetings and said the desire to change the zoning was pretty much unanimous.

While barring multifamily uses in most of the neighborhood, the rezoning allows, by right, what are called accessory dwelling units, known commonly as granny flats.

These units are located on the same property as a house, either as a smaller detached unit or are an attached portion, according to the American Planning Association. Residents who jump through the municipal hurdles such as permitting can rent these spaces out.

That creates an opportunity for adding density and affordable housing. Plus, it offers residents an avenue for supplementing their income.

Victor Romo, 69, a Jimtown resident who spoke before the Plan Commission last month, told officials that he and his wife, Linda, have lived in their home since 1988 and are lifelong residents of Oak Cliff.

The residents of his area want security in knowing that a developer isn’t going to come in and “build three two-story condos on one lot,” Romo said.

Often, when an area is redeveloped, existing residents are priced out.

Romo told planners that he continues to work in landscaping because his Social Security benefits aren’t enough. “It’s ridiculous that we’re living in the times that we are,” he said. “I don’t even know where we can afford to live if we can’t pay the taxes.”

Zoning is about more than documents, meetings and motions, it’s about real people who have made their lives in our city.

This process took entirely too long. A lot can change in five years. But in the end, Dallas got it right with Jimtown, tailoring the area’s zoning to the community’s needs. That’s how it should work.

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