LH Press Library
Residents Fight Razing of Complex, Urban Forest
Refuge for tenants is prime real estate for city officials
Lake Highlands People, by Peter Simek
April 14, 2006
The Timbercreek Apartments don’t look like much.
From the intersection of Northwest Highway and Skillman Street, the gray, shabby complex looks like it needs a coat of paint, some new windows maybe even new siding.
That’s why when the Trammell Crow Co. came with a proposed rezoning of the property that would clear the way for commercial and retail development, neighbors and city official jumped at the idea.
“I think of it as the gateway to Lake Highlands,” District 10 Councilman Bill Blaydes said. “It is vital reuse, a timely development.”
Susan Morgan, who chairs the economic development committee for the Lake Highlands Area Improvement District (LHAIA) agreed.
“This piece is on the outskirts of Lake Highlands but it is in the Skillman Area TIF [Tax Increment Finance District],” Morgan said. “It is in an area designed for redevelopment.”
The TIF created by the Dallas City Council last year, is supposed to attract developers to locations like Timbercreek that have apartment complexes more than 25 years old along the major thoroughfare that continues from 1-635 to downtown.
And although it is expected that residents will resist when an apartment complex is slated for redevelopment the fight for Timbercreek is different.
Residents say developers aren’t simply redeveloping a busy intersection; they are destroying a beautiful urban forest, a section of land along White Rock Creek vital to the White Rock Lake area ecosystem.
Dr. Jim Birrung, a physician the who has lived at Timbercreek more than 30 years (since the complex opened in 1975), said Timbercreek is inexpensive, conveniently located, and, most importantly, it is built into the woods surrounding White Rock Creek, which he said is like living on a wildlife preserve.
Timbercreek is home to more than 37 species of birds and 28 species of animals, Birrung said, and the nature wildlife center at Timbercreek is even listed in the national wildlife registry
‘There is a gold crested night heron that is nesting in the creek bed and flies to White Rock Lake at night,” Birrung said, “I have a picture of a red-tailed hawk on my balcony. There is a rolling creek and two waterfalls.”
Lisa Paine, a Timbercreek resident for 13 years, is trying to organize support against the development, which besides razing the apartments, is set to change the course of the creek and cover it with concrete as well as remove dozens of trees from the site.
She has knocked on doors, organized a resident barbecue, and invited representatives from The Dallas Audubon society and the Dallas chapter of the Sierra Club to visit the site.
“When it was built in 1975, the [developer] did the footprints around the creek so that the buildings were in the woods, surrounded by the forest,” Paine said. “Other cities are tying to go back to urban forests. I feel like we won’t be able to get this back?”
When Timbercreek was developed, it was an adult-only complex meant to attract tenants drawn to similar style apartments, such as the Village Apartments on the other side of Northwest Highway.
Over the years, the clientele has changed. Today, Paine said the complex is home to dozens of working-class Hispanic families taking advantage of the low rents, and, unlike other inexpensive complexes in Dallas, their children can grow up playing near a creek, in the woods, surrounded by wildlife.
“There are over 1,100 units,” Paine said. “They are displacing an entire village of people?”
Denton Wallker, a representative with the Dallas-based Trammell Crow Co., said his company is only trying to build the kind of development the city wants for that area of Dallas.
“The city wants this and we are following their lead for what the city would like to see at that intersection,” Walker said. “The city council voted 14-0 for that location to be developed — they prefer more retail.”
On March 8, the council postponed a vote on the new zoning until April 26, and Walker said Trammell Crow is working with city officials to develop a site plan that includes consistent, quality materials.
In addition, Trammell Crow has been working with the LHAIA and neighboring Dallas Childrens Theater to improve the landscaping around the theater and various neighborhood intersections with trees mitigated from the Timbercreek site.
The company has even offered to pay for some of the tenants’ moving expenses.
“We want to make this a positive development,” he said.
There have been rumors that Trammell Crow plans on building a Wal-Mart or a Costco on the site, but Walker said at this point his company is only seeking rezoning, and they have not contacted any potential tenants.
Susan Morgan said she can understand why residents are upset, but admitted that Trammell Crow’s development history and willingness to meet with neighbors is a selling point.
“I am sympathetic; we protect Lake Highlands’ beauty rabidly, it is very important,” Morgan said. “But so is a viable economic community. We have had an imbalance with an overbuilding of multifamily. We are trying to balance that.”
Councilman Bill Blaydes said he has confidence in Trammell Crow’s development history in Dallas.
“What comes out won’t be a Wal-Mart he said. “It will be a first-class development. It is going to be done by Trammell Crow, and Trammell Crow does not do trash.”
Blaydes said Timbercreek residents shouldn’t have a problem finding a new home.
“Complaints are expected; nobody likes to lose their home,” Blaydes said. “[But] we believe there is adequate housing in the price range in District 10.”
Councilman Gary Griffith, whose district includes White Rock Lake, was happy that the council postponed the vote March 8 so that the city and developers could work through the site proposal.
“Generally, if it is enhancing the development, it is a good thing,” Griffith said. “But we had questions about the layout and design. How are you going to work with the site? It is a pretty site?”
Dr. Birrung agrees that the site is pretty and, he said, why redevelop when Dallas already has so much retail.
‘We have the Medallion Center, NorthPark, the Target Center— I don’t know if another shop ping center is needed,” Birrung said.
He said residents are considering contacting the Environmental Protection Agency but with the council seemingly set to approve the zoning on April 26, he is not sure if residents can still really do anything.
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