LH Press Library
Wal-Mart gets City's Go-Ahead
Dallas: Council approves Lake Highlands project, plan for old post office
The Dallas Morning News, by Dave Levinthal
and Emily Ramshaw
November 9, 2005
One project will bring new life to a historic but vacant downtown building. Another project will bring a Wal-Mart Supercenter to a blighted section of Lake Highlands.
And on Wednesday, the Dallas City Council backed them both.
In one instance, the council approved a hotly debated plan for a Wal-Mart Supercenter in Lake Highlands, saying it's high time to clean up the property at Forest Lane and Abrams Road.
The council's overwhelming approval was opposed at Wednesday's public hearing by dozens of homeowners who spoke out against a project they say will choke their neighborhood with traffic and unwanted foot traffic. Mayor Laura Miller, who alone voted against the project, agreed.
"This particular box, for me, is too big," she said.
But council member Bill Blaydes, who has worked on the development for two years, said the dissenters aren't representative of his district, which he said overwhelmingly favors the new Wal-Mart.
"It is the revitalization of an area that's going into the tank," he said. "It does remove blight from the heart of Lake Highlands."
The site has been a black eye in northeast Dallas, he said, with its drug- and prostitute-infested extended-stay hotels, crime-ridden apartments and empty office buildings.
Wednesday's zoning change was the most controversial for a "big box" since the city ended its moratorium on such stores and implemented new large-scale retail standards last fall.
Ms. Miller said Mr. Blaydes and staff members have been crafting a deal to make land costs more manageable for developer John Christon. She said she was told the plan was to grant the developer half of the sales tax revenue that the Lake Highlands Wal-Mart produces specifically for the city of Dallas, up to $1 million.
Mr. Blaydes said there's no guarantee the developer will ask for a rebate. But he said there have been some discussions about helping the developer financially if asbestos abatement reaches a certain cost. In case the developer asks for one, Mr. Blaydes said, the council will still have to approve any tax abatement.
On Wednesday, Ms. Miller also questioned the council's plans to grant a $1 million subsidy for a new Carnival grocery store in Oak Cliff.
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