Council Recap: Interurban at the Crossroads

On August 12, 2024, the Richardson City Council deliberated an application by Clay Cooley VW to add a repair shop, a body shop, and a vehicle storage lot on their property in the Interurban District. Clay Cooley VW's vision is for a car-centric business located along a busy freeway. The City's vision for the district is at odds with that. There's already a major mixed-use development underway just south of this site, Belt+Main, for which Clay Cooley VW's dealership will act as a blockade against extension of that mixed-use neighborhood to the north.

Spoiler alert. After ninety minutes of deliberation, the City Council continued the hearing until September 23 to give the applicant time to...to do what, exactly? Mayor Bob Dubey punted that question to City Manager Don Magner, saying, "Don, would you please tell the applicant what we're asking him here?" And Magner punted that question to tomorrow morning, saying, "I think if it'd be okay with the applicant, I can follow up tomorrow, and we can put our thoughts together and give you some clear direction."

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As a reminder, this is the City's vision:

The Interurban District could become a vibrant, mixed-use district that builds upon the existing block structure and buildings in the area. Today's industrial/commercial district, made up of tilt wall and block masonry buildings dating from the 1960's to the 1980's, could transform into an eclectic live/work neighborhood through reuse of the existing building stock for specialty industrial, commercial, retail/ restaurant and residential uses. Vacant and underutilized parcels could be redeveloped into urban housing in the form of loft apartments and live-work units.

Source: City of Richardson.

As I've stated in other posts, I'm against catering to auto-centric businesses in this area. But the form-based code focuses more on the form of the development than the use, so let us focus on that, too. The Clay Cooley VW representative emphasized that they are doing nothing to the form of the buildings to make them compatible with the vision. He said about one of the buildings, "Everything in that facility was environmentally approved. They have the sand traps. They have everything. We're not changing the structure of the facility at all." He also emphasized how Clay Cooley VW has its hands tied by Volkswagen Corporation on every aspect of the buildings down to the paint color. He batted away various suggestions for improving the integration with the neighborhood. He said, "There was a discussion about a mural in the Planning Commission. I pushed for that. I went all the way up, and they said that does not meet Volkswagen brand standards. So they shot me down." Obviously, Volkswagen Corporation has little knowledge of the City of Richardson's vision for this neighborhood, and, as a $300 billion global business, evidently has little interest in trying to adapt to Richardson's vision.

What do the Councilmembers think?

Councilmember Curtis Dorian: "Do you have any plans on exterior facades, or any material changes, or landscaping, lighting, etc?" The answer was no, but my guess is that's what Clay Cooley VW will be working on between now and September 23 to win the Council's approval. Dorian went on to say, "I just want to make sure that that block has some good drive up appeal." That ought to be easy enough to provide to get Dorian's vote. But maybe not, if Volkswagen Corporation is unbending.

Councilmember Jennifer Justice: "On a building that backs up to a [linear] park where people run along the trail, would it be possible to do something like [have a mural] there?" The answer? "I will definitely propose whatever you suggest. I just don't know, Volkswagen Corporation with their brand image, if they'll let us do that. Like they said, we want the building white."

Mayor Pro Tem Arefin: "You're discussing the color, the paint color. I don't think that's an issue. The issue is probably that you can upgrade this thing with different kind of building material."

Arefin and Justice both face the same fundamental problem. With the applicant trying to reuse the buildings as is, and State law prohibiting cities from putting any kind of restriction around building material, aesthetics, or other elements of that kind, we're at a standoff. The City has to decide whether to allow a new owner to come in and occupy existing buildings, knowing that it doesn't advance the vision for the Interurban District. Arefin and Justice are unhappy with that choice. I can't judge which way they will vote.

Mayor Bob Dubey: "Would the Volkswagen Corporation allow you to decorate a fence? Maybe you have an art fence around it that would face out there. Why? I don't know, but that's a happy medium." It's clear Mayor Dubey is a yes vote, but wants to throw a sop to those who are trying to save the vision. And Dorian's next comment shows the sop worked, at least on him. "That's a good thought, Mayor. I mean that corner there, in the event we did have a decorative fence, we'll call it, I mean something just, I don't know, dress it up a little bit." So expect Dorian to be a yes vote as well if Volkswagen Corporation just throws him a bone.

Councilmember Joe Corcoran: "This is literally taking up a huge block right in the middle of Interurban. We're just now getting to that redevelopment on the South that could catalyze this into what that vision is. I feel like they put a wall there almost that blocks any sort of development of the city's vision for Interurban going north."

Bingo. What we have here is a new urban development expanding northwards, soon to butt up against a newly fortified outpost of the old car-centric development from Richardson's suburban past. It's irresistible force meets immovable object. On this front line of new vs old, which development we allow to win will determine Richardson's future for the next half century.

Councilmember Dan Barrios: "Because of its location within the district this and the block south of here is truly the heart of this. And by not keeping with that vision at a time when we're looking at the Comprehensive Plan, we're looking at secondary uses, and this Council is looking at things in a way that perhaps hasn't been done before, to bring some of those visions to light, I feel that this would be putting the nail in the heart and putting the final nail in the coffin for this area, right as things are starting to come online, that Belt+Main is coming online."

Count Barrios as a true believer in the vision and clearly a no vote to a car repair shop.

Mayor Bob Dubey: "I'll just say, when this passed nine years ago, the Council left it open-ended to where this area was by right okay for car dealerships. They left it open as a vision that was part of their vision...So anyway, I don't think that vision is crystal clear, is what I'm saying."

New auto body shops, repair shops, car detail shops aren't allowed by right. All require a special permit in the Interurban District. That's the whole reason Clay Cooley VW is appearing before City Council. The Council has every right to approve or deny a special permit. Mayor Dubey is welcome to present arguments that a new body shop conforms to that vision. Good luck with that.

Mayor Bob Dubey: "If it's going to take two decades, what if we were as a Council to propose that we say it's okay now, in 10 years, they gotta come back in front of us."

Another sop to try to win support. Arefin quickly jumped on board. "I think that's probably a great idea. Having, like, given 10 years an option, put back after 10 years, just a temporary for 10 years." Corcoran called them out. "We're gonna say, Yeah, put in all this money to redevelop these places, and we'll call it back in 10 years and decide you can't use it anymore. I don't think that is a fair proposition to either us or the applicant." Councilmember Dan Barrios concurred. "Saying 10 years also puts the brakes on any potential other investors that are buying into that vision, and may dissuade them, because it shows us being on unsure footing about the vision of the area."

Councilmember Jennifer Justice: "My concern is we're just going to get another sad building back there that doesn't meet the eclectic, creative, updated streetscape that we're asking for as part of this area...[The use] is not a red flag for me. It's just I would like to be able to see what this is going to look like. So I will be inclined to continue it, to allow the applicant that opportunity."

Assuming the applicant can come back with some renderings that show something other than some blank white wall facing Interurban Street, Justice might, in the end, vote yes.

Mayor Pro Tem Arefin: "Just a crazy thought. I don't know, we should have probably asked outside the meeting, but it's better to ask in the meeting so that everybody can hear. You know, this could be a multi-story building...you know, first story could be one side could be body, shock, and then upstairs could be other use."

Not crazy, but revealing. The zoning for the Interurban District was set in 2015 and 2016. The City has worked through at least four zoning cases here since then. For Arefin to think in 2024 that a mixed-use building there might be a new, crazy idea says a lot about the City's economic development efforts in this area, or lack of them. The Clay Cooley VW rep appeared to know nothing about the City's vision and he's been working with City staff for months (or years) on Clay Cooley's own plans for the area. Even if Clay Cooley VW has no interest in the kind of development the City envisions, they should at least be told that the need for special permits is because auto body shops and auto repair shops are what the City is trying to replace, not spruce up. That might have resulted in more compatible plans in the first place, and saved everybody a lot of wasted time in any case.

Councilmember Ken Hutchenrider: "We sit in all of these meetings, and we talk about being business friendly. Nine years this property has sat, and nothing's occurred to it. Nine years, folks, I'm going to disagree strongly with y'all."

And that's when the deliberations went off the rails.

Hutchenrider: "We're talking out of both sides of our mouths, folks. You're saying that you're business friendly. You're not business friendly if you're looking at someone who's come into this town and has made a major, major purchase to try and come in and work with these businesses. You want to mention Four Bullets. I was there when Four Bullets was opened. They put a brewery in an existing building, and they haven't done a thing since. Building hasn't been updated at all."

Looking at the Interurban District today, Four Bullets is a success story there. Repurposing an existing building can have more impact than, say, putting a fresh coat of paint on a building used for the same old purpose (e.g., a body shop). The fact that Four Bullets hasn't resulted in a flowering of other businesses might be due to poor marketing of the whole district by the City, as evidenced by Arefin thinking his idea of a mixed-use building might be a novel consideration for the district.

Hutchenrider and Mayor Dubey both spoke to how much money Clay Cooley VW was investing as an argument that the City of Richardson should grant the special permits. City Manager Don Magner, doing some fast talking himself to also sell a yes vote, said that a yes vote wouldn't prevent some other developer coming in later and doing a complete makeover of the district, like Belt+Main has done to the south, because, in Magner's estimation, the investment in buildings and land isn't really enough for that to be prohibitively expensive. Which is it? Too much to say no to, or not so much that someone else can't afford to come in later and scrape it?

The worst thing about Hutchenrider's comments was how condescending and morally superior he was. I've heard Hutchenrider insult, not just Councilmembers, but applicants as well and then vote to deny their requests, even though they, too, were investing millions of dollars in the City of Richardson. And Hutchenrider's reasons for denial can be egregious. For example, he voted against a proposal to build apartments near UT-Dallas because he was concerned for the safety of females in off-campus apartments. No one accused him of not being business friendly. Hutchenrider owes someone an apology.

Despite Hutchenrider's bad behavior, debating the future of the Interurban District is a worthy debate to have. In good faith, we can have different ideas on how best to achieve economic development in that area. Do we still want "an eclectic live/work neighborhood" anymore or is it just too big an ask to phase out all the existing body shops, garages, brake stores, car rentals, trailer rentals, dent repair shops, and used car dealers that are there now? Or do we instead want to just spruce them up? If we really believe in the vision, we need to act like it and quit hoping that redevelopment will occur on its own, miraculously. Approving Clay Cooley VW would send the message that it's just business as usual in Richardson. On the other hand, a denial would send a different message, a message that Richardson really is interested in changing the character of this neighborhood. What the City would get from that message is advertising that money can't buy. Then the City needs to step up its marketing of the vision. We need to tell businesses and developers, if you believe in our vision, too, then come to Richardson. We'll work with you to achieve that vision.

By my whip count, that's two voting Yes, two voting No, and three uncommitted. Come back September 23, 2024, to see what the City Council decides.

Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

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"Body shops or change,
Visions of future collide.
City at crossroads."
—h/t ChatGPT