Efforts to open Dallas’ first H-E-B store are drawing… opposition.
A move to rezone the property to pave the way for the popular store is turning into a familiar zoning fight between neighbors who would like to see the grocery store and those who worry the new development will increase flooding and traffic on the already congested roads.
The plans for the new H-E-B in North Dallas require the city to rezone a 10-acre site along Interstate 635 and Hillcrest Road. Currently, the proposed site’s zoning allows for low-rise office buildings. H-E-B is seeking regional retail zoning, which allows a maximum height of 70 feet and would give H-E-B the ability to build an expansive structure.
Residents packed a room at the Westin Hotel for a community meeting hosted by H-E-B on Monday to pose questions about the project. Council member Bill Roth, who represents the area, and several city officials from the planning and transportation departments stood in the back of the room watching terse exchanges among neighbors.
Political Points
The City Plan Commission is expected to weigh in on the project Sept. 18 and assess if rezoning to allow a large retail complex is a reasonable request from the San Antonio-based grocer.
If approved, H-E-B, which is expanding its footprint in North Texas, is expected to build a nearly 127,000-square-foot complex with about 45,000 visits a week. Trucks could take six trips daily down Hillcrest Plaza to loading docks in the back, with fencing and landscaping to shield residential areas from the hubbub. An attached parking garage will have about 625 spots, and H-E-B has proposed constructing new turn lanes and traffic signals to mitigate concerns of disorderly intersections.
But neighbors opposed to the project worry a big store will increase traffic, exacerbating the existing congestion on Interstate 635 during rush hour. Some said they’d welcome a smaller store.
When representatives of H-E-B were taking questions, resident Marsha Gaswirth said she wasn’t against H-E-B itself, but traffic was her main concern. She said Hillcrest routinely sees backed-up cars near the Covenant School, synagogues and churches. There are also several other grocery stores such as Costco, Trader Joe’s and a Tom Thumb in the area.
“We are a neighborhood that is concerned about the traffic pattern,” said Gaswirth, adding she lived in a gated community off Churchill Way. “You say you’re doing these traffic reports — it doesn’t help us as the neighborhood. You have to impress us, not your store,” she told H-E-B officials.
Some in the audience also brought up concerns of crime and enforcement — both of which fall under the purview of the city of Dallas. One resident in support of H-E-B’s plan said the burden of existing issues shouldn’t fall on the grocery store and suggested the city could tackle quality-of-life issues by hiring more police officers.
Residents said they were excited by the prospect of a new grocery store in their neighborhood, especially one that they could walk to, and the anticipated benefit of an increased tax base.
For others, the specter of what the rezoning would do to their community was top of mind.
Kathy Coffman, part of the Hillcrest Preservation Coalition that’s opposing the development, raised questions about what else could be allowed on the site if H-E-B were to never build its store, despite rezoning approval. Under regional retail, developers can build big-box stores such as Best Buy, a car dealership or even a gentleman’s club, she said.
“Why would you come in with the most intense retail zoning classification that there is on the books and tell us that we have to live with it?” Coffman said.
Another issue is a newly passed state law that allows developers to build housing on commercially zoned areas without city approval. The City Council has been discussing behind closed doors the impact of the state law and whether the city has any control over what occurs at commercially zoned sites, such as the one H-E-B is eyeing for its new store.
Roth, the District 11 council member who was recently elected after positioning as someone who would protect neighborhood rights, told The Dallas Morning News the neighbors in the immediate area of the planned store had legitimate concerns over the impact a large retail development would have on the people who live nearby.
“The requested zoning upgrade to regional retail allows for a significant increase in the scale of any project on that property,” Roth told The News. “Traffic congestion, store deliveries and other operational challenges must be adequately addressed.”
Roth said residents’ concerns needed to be prioritized. “They should be protected against any change, which would disrupt the harmony, stability and property values of their neighborhood.”
Mabrie Jackson, H-E-B’s managing director of public affairs, said the company had held several neighborhood gatherings and multiple individual meetings to address resident concerns.
“We will continue to listen to the needs of the community and value the feedback we’ve received,” Jackson said in a statement. “H-E-B is committed to being a good neighbor.”
Still, the back and forth during the meeting had gone too far for some.
At one point, Jeff Olson, a resident who lived close by and had been watching the meeting from the beginning, got up from his chair, visibly frustrated. “The neighborhood is not up in arms about this,” Olson said to the crowd before weaving his way out the door.
“This is NIMBYs who don’t want anything ever built,” Olson later told The News, adding that the community needed the popular grocery store. “It’s total baloney that the neighborhood is up in arms about this. It’s a few baby boomers who have owned their homes for 1,000 years, who never want anything ever to be built in this town.”
Olson said the new project could improve pedestrian and bike access for neighborhoods close by. The proposed improvements would add sidewalks and be near the White Rock Creek Trail. “This neighborhood could use something like this,” he said.