Marsha Gordon (left) and Diane Benjamin (right) serve as precinct chairs for the Democratic and Republican parties, respectively. This is the first time both women have the same sign in their yards.
Photo courtesy Preserve Preston Hollow
Facing a recall election, Dallas City Council member Gay Donnell Willis wants to postpone a contentious zoning case. Neighborhood activists say it’s too little, too late.
The proposal in question — a planned mixed-use development at Preston-Royal including a nine-story hotel-condo tower and an 18-story apartment tower — has sparked civic uproar in Willis’ district as neighbors relentlessly lobby against the project, whose current design they say is wholly incompatible with the area. Right now, the maximum allowable height in the area is 50 feet. The developers are seeking a zoning variance that would allow them to build the condo project up to 240 feet.
In a survey, 92% of neighboring residents notified before a 10-4 zoning board decision to advance the case said they opposed the development.
Willis announced Friday that she is seeking to postpone the case until at least Nov. 10. A hearing on the $800 million project has already been delayed several times, and the condo tower height has already been lowered from 28 stories. In a release to the Observer, she said her concerns center on potential traffic impacts in the area.
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“Additional traffic improvements will reduce wait times at the lights and ensure an improved flow of vehicles. I am pushing for a solution that extends beyond the immediate intersection and encompasses more of the east and westbound traffic to make a greater overall impact on traffic flow.”
The developer, Leland Burk, has hired a consulting firm to assess the area’s traffic impacts and potential solutions, which Willis said is causing the delay. She said the developer will fund any improvements and add them to the zoning file as a requirement. The developer has already committed to new traffic lights and other infrastructure investments that representatives told The Dallas Morning News will help cut delays.
Willis’ afternoon announcement came after recall organizers filed a notice of intent to collect signatures with the city, City Secretary Billirae Johnson confirmed in an email. On Tuesday, the coalition announced that local injury attorney Ben Abbott had joined it, which is largely tied to the recall campaign. Abbott has taken increasingly visible stances on public issues as the 2027 race to replace Mayor Eric Johnson looms.
“That’s not the place for a 25-story tower,” Abbott said in a social media video, likely referring to the originally proposed height.
Not the traffic
While Willis said the decision is related to traffic concerns, recall organizers pushed back on the idea that it was the “number one” concern for residents, as she wrote in her announcement.
“Traffic is the least of the concerns neighbors have been raising,” an email from the Neighborhoods First PAC, which has organized the campaign, reads. “The real issue is the height and density of the development, and a delay to study traffic doesn’t change a single floor of the proposal.
“Bottom line: she still isn’t listening.”
The campaign has focused on the Preston Royal proposal and two other contested cases approved earlier this year. Along with Willis’ stance on potentially leaving Dallas City Hall and concerns including alley trash pickup, they say the issues show the three-term council member has grown disconnected from her constituents.
Recall organizers originally demanded Willis postpone the vote by 120 days. In a statement to KERA, spokesperson Doug Hazelbaker said the effort will continue regardless of a potential push to November.
“Apparently, the quickest way to get Councilwoman Gay Willis’s attention is to start collecting signatures to recall her,” Hazelbaker said. “We repeatedly asked her to delay this project and meet with residents about overwhelming opposition to a development backed by her campaign contributor. She ignored us. Then, the very day we launch a recall petition, our concerns suddenly matter. Amazing timing.”
But before that, at least eight council members must vote to approve a motion to postpone. In an interview, Hazelbaker told the Observer that his group has contacted multiple council members about the project and hopes they will support a delay on Wednesday, adding that he would like the council to push it back even further, or at least until the height is lowered.
“If this zoning gets approved on the 10th, how soon do you think it’ll take a developer to come on and apply on one of those other corners?” Hazelbaker said.
Lake Highlands Council member Kathy Stewart told the Observer in a text that she supports delaying the project. In a written statement, council member Bill Roth, whose Preston Hollow district encompasses one of the other corners at Preston-Royal, also said he would back the motion.
“I am hopeful that this additional time will be an opportunity for productive dialogue between the developer and the neighborhood to address the neighborhood’s legitimate concerns about the impact of this project,” Roth wrote.