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 A Crucial Rezoning Vote

At the November 17^th meeting, the Farmers Branch City Council acted on a request to rezone part of the Brookhollow neighborhood.  Many neighbors made a very professional and reasoned argument against the request.  The council had plenty of reasons to vote against it too, but not one councilperson could find a reason to side with the neighbors.  They decided to show their complete disregard for the wishes of current taxpaying residents by voting unanimously to grant the rezoning. 

We believe this vote against the neighborhood sets a precedent not only for the Brookhollow neighborhood, but for the whole city.   With the Mayor and Council planning on building apartments where Albertsons was, those of us who want to retain the small town character of residential Farmers Branch must fight back.

Brookhollow is the area southeast of Webb Chapel and Valley View that has the large lots and very country feel.  It was developed in the late 1940's and didn't get its current R-1 zoning until the 1960's.  That zoning put in place the standards already in the neighborhood and designated lots to be 1 acre or more unless they were already in existence. 

The request was to divide a 1.4 acre lot into two .7 acre lots.  Although the minimum setbacks would match the current zoning, the backyards of these lots would be much smaller than those in the neighborhood and the look would be more suburban.  One point that was missed was the fact that once the rezoning is in place, the rezoned property is much more valuable.  There are no guarantees that one lot won't be sold off for even more profit- or the whole thing and sell to a developer of spec houses.   The financial benefit to goes to the owner of the rezoned property while the neighbors get a development that could degrade their property values.

Because 88% of the neighbors within 200 feet of the property objected to the rezoning, the Council needed a super majority of 4 votes to pass the rezoning.  Instead of listening to wishes of the residents who live there, the Council displayed their bias toward McMansions and "Frisco" style development and voted for the rezoning. "The will of the people" is only acted on when the Council when the Council finds it convenient.