A New Majority is Born in Richardson

At the January 8, 2023, Richardson City Council meeting, a property owner asked approval for a rezoning request (ZF 23-14) to convert an office building at 75 and Glenville into a five-story, multi-family apartment complex. On a slide titled "Items to Consider," City staff did everything they could to signal to the City Council that they could ignore the fact that apartments in that location are not consistent with the City's Comprehensive Plan.

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Source: City of Richardson.

City Council spent an hour considering design elements (parking garage accent lighting, brick banding, balconies, driveway, etc.) but said nothing about that pesky Comprehensive Plan. The City Council then approved the rezoning request 7-0. I'm not here to argue with that decision.

I'm here to marvel at the difference between Monday's non-controversial, unanimous action and last term's decision to reject a rezoning request to build apartments north of UT-Dallas ("What Killed Student Housing for UT-Dallas?"). At that time, on a slide titled "Considerations," City staff signaled a different understanding about whether changing zoning from office to apartments is ever appropriate. Listed as the first consideration was: "Proposed land use is not consistent with the Comprehensive Plan" (emphasis in original). No exceptions. No qualifications. Just no.

Source: City of Richardson.

At the time, the City staff "consideration" was not lost on that City Council. It voted 4-3 to deny the rezoning request. What's different between then and now? Some might argue the two cases are different, and they are, but not so much as to make this a case of apples to oranges. To me, the biggest difference is in the makeup of the City Council. We've had an election since the earlier vote. Of the four "no" votes then (Dubey, DePuy, Hutchenrider, and Voelker), two of those Councilmembers (DePuy and Voelker) have been replaced by new members (Dorian and Barrios). Both members new in 2023 voted "yes", along with three members new in 2021 (Arefin, Justice, Corcoran). Joining the new majority in voting "yes" were the two old timers (Dubey, Hutchenrider) who both voted "no" before.

I don't think that's a coincidence. A new majority on City Council has been born, one that can control the outcome of votes on items brought to them by the City Manager. They still aren't showing they know how to exercise their power to change the agenda, but that day could come. Baby steps.

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"City staff signals,
Comprehensive Plan be damned,
Apartments may bloom."
—h/t ChatGPT