Part 2 of an important topic.
Part 1: "Council
Recap: Comp Plan Update"
In the August 12, 2024, review of progress on the City of Richardson's update of its Comprehensive Plan, City Manager Don Magner and Mayor Bob Dubey laid out competing models of how development works in Richardson. Neither view was laid out in detail. I'm not sure either person has given the matter enough thought to do that. I'm not sure either one even sees the conflict between the two models. Going by what little they did say, conflict there is, and both models should raise warning flags.
Top-Down
City Manager Don Magner expresses what I'll call a top-down view of government:
I would say that any of these areas could be workforce housing. It's really not about the vision or the zoning that you put in place that results in workforce housing or affordable and mixed income housing. It's really the policy that the council sets and the economic development approach that they direct us to utilize to attract that kind of housing. So you can have affordable housing, or you can workforce housing at City Line, or you could have it on West Spring Valley. And so it really just depends on, again, the policy that this council, or future Councils set, and the direction that they give us to work with the development community to bring those different types of housing to Richardson.Source: City Manager Don Magner.
Magner doesn't say exactly what he means by "policy," but it doesn't appear to be the Comp Plan or the zoning ordinances. Maybe it's "the economic development approach" he mentions. Maybe by that he means everything that goes on in those executive sessions the City Council holds out of the view of the public, with agenda items like this:
- Consultation with City Attorney
— Certain Economic Incentives - Deliberation regarding economic development negotiations
— In the area of W. Spring Valley and Coit Road
What the heck is that all about? Well, it's probably not something arising organically in a bottom-up fashion. In fact, we know more about it from something Mayor Bob Dubey let slip. (Pay attention to him; he often says the quiet parts out loud.) Mayor Dubey didn't announce the item as printed in the agenda. Instead, he said the topic was "Consultation with City Attorney regarding Public Facility Corporations." A Public Facility Corporation is a means to give a tax break to apartment owners. I wrote about it in February, 2024. In short it looks like the City of Richardson is working on some kind of economic incentive for apartment development in southwest Richardson. That's Magner's top-down development.
Bottom-Up
Mayor Bob Dubey expresses what I'll call a bottom-up view of government.
I think what I heard our council say, and the CPC [City Plan Commission] say to us, is our vision today is not going to be the same vision then [in 20 years]. So we don't want to get boxed in. We want to be able to have the ability to look at these things independently. I think that's what I heard. If I didn't, y'all please correct me. So I'm 100% in favor of us looking to the future and seeing where these things can fit, but not taking the control away from the CPC or the Council to have an opportunity to look at it and try to put those round pegs in round holes, and not put the square pegs in there, because I think that's where we get in trouble. We've got things that are coming in front of us later tonight and in the future that are zoning issues that people may want to say, but that's not the vision. Well, we have a new vision since Covid. We have different visions with everything we do, and I think we need to be open minded enough to look into the future or know we can't look into the future and be accountable for what we do as best we can.
Source: Mayor Bob Dubey.
What is Mayor Dubey referring to? The issues that are "coming in front of us later tonight" were separate requests by Clay Cooley VW, one for a 40-ft high sign (existing sign ordinance restricts height to 20 feet), and another one for a car repair shop, a body shop, and a vehicle storage lot on their property in the Interurban District.
This is a bottom-up approach to development, with development requests originated by Clay Cooley VW. Their vision is diametrically opposed to the top-down vision set by the City, which foresees a "vibrant mixed-use district," an "eclectic live/work neighborhood." Mayor Dubey voted to give Clay Cooley VW the pole sign they wanted. It's a safe bet that he will also be voting in favor of giving Clay Cooley VW the car repair shop, body shop, and vehicle storage lot in the district that they also want when that application is decided on September 23.
So who's right, the City Manager or the Mayor? In my opinion, neither, but not because top-down or bottom-up are inherently bad. It's because of a lack of transparency regarding policy.
Mayor Dubey's approach fails because it's not policy driven. Worse, it replaces policy with the whim of seven members of City Council. That sign ordinance that was crafted in 2012 for the general good of the City of Richardson? That's policy. That variance City Council just gave Clay Cooley VW because he has invested so much in his auto dealership in Richardson? That's favoritism. It's government by whim. Most such requests should be summarily denied. The reason is because Clay Cooley VW doesn't have the interest of the City of Richardson at heart. They have their own interest at heart. They aren't investing in the City of Richardson. They are investing in their own business; in this case against the greater good.
The City Manager's approach fails for a similar reason. In his model, much of what gets built in Richardson depends on secret meetings in which economic incentives are granted to individual developers for individual projects. That's favoritism, too, made worse by a lack of transparency. As we've seen time and time again (City Line, Palisades, Core) zoning ordinances are no barrier to the development that the City wants. An area is changed into a planned development district created specifically for a specific project, with regulations particular to the project. The public role in this process is very small, as the critical parts of it (the money parts, and money drives everything) take place behind closed doors.
The bottom line? Go ahead and take the community surveys, attend the community summits (summit—that's a funny word), but don't expect the public's desires to factor into the decision in any meaningful way. Both City Manager Don Magner's top-down model of urban development and Mayor Bob Dubey's bottom-up model leave the public will out of the process.
Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
"City's future shaped
Through favors or in secret.
Failures either way."
—h/t ChatGPT
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