The city has planned for years to redevelop the Dallas corridor. Now, the city is getting ready to start what officials referred to as a “major project” on the street. The Dallas Road Improvement Program will begin in January with construction on the road, Development Services Director Scott Williams said. The street will be narrowed, and the continuous center turn lane will be eliminated.
“The four lanes will remain, but they’ll be more narrow, which will help to calm and slow traffic,” Williams said.
The center turn lane will be replaced by heavily landscaped medians, and pedestrian crosswalks will be added to Dallas, he said.
Following the January 2019 start of the TEXRail light rail operations at Grapevine’s Main Street, the city anticipated the station would lead to development pressure immediately surrounding the station area. Staff created a set of design standards to help guide investors and developers to create a cohesive and active environment, Williams said. These standards were adopted in 2019.
“It’s not only ... beneficial for the city, but it helps developers,” he said. “It lets them build more dense[ly]. It lets them use more of the lot than the current zoning would allow.”
Developers are not obligated to use these design standards, but the city provides incentives to developers for using these standards, such as waiving zoning and entitlement fees.
Some of the uses the standards encourage include boutique shopping, restaurant and entertainment, continuing the theme from Grapevine’s Main Street, Williams said.
In addition, there will be a greater emphasis on developing brownstone condominiums and townhomes for high-density residential uses rather than apartments.
“It’s simply market forces at work,” Williams said. “You have pressure for this more dense, active development—that tends to move away from those low-intensity uses.”
