HPPC’s Rezoning Plans on Hold Until Sept. 14
Likely you’ve heard that neighbors in the vicinity of Highland Park Presbyterian Church are upset — an understatement, perhaps — about HPPC’s motion to rezone and build a surface parking lot. Yesterday evening, the plan finally went before University Park’s* planning and zoning commission, in a public hearing wherein supporters and opponents had 45 minutes, per group, to make their case (HPPC’s side took less time, though six members spoke on its behalf).
The outcome: Proposed bluprints are shelved at least until P and Z’s next meeting on Sept. 14, pending more research and consideration. In the meantime, said Bob West, Planning and Zoning Commission chair, he’d like to see the church crunch numbers for an underground parking garage — one of several options broached Tuesday night by those opposed to the surface lot.
The rendering above, from Lambert Garden Design, illustrates a wall that will screen the lot from view, designers say, and lend itself to a “park-like setting” in the neighborhood.
Want more details? We’ll have them in Friday’s issue of Park Cities People.
*For anyone jumping into this story midway through or living more than a stone’s throw from HPPC: The church is actually inside the City of University Park, confusing-name geography be darned.
30 comments to "HPPC's Rezoning Plans on Hold Until Sept. 14"
Think about it: Kim responded trenchantly, and I will simply reiterate. Everything to do with small children is located at the other end of the church. Parking on the west block would still involve crossing the parking lot itself and, more importantly, a newly congested Shannon lane, which would then be even more crowded and dangerous due to none other than the main parking lot entrance being located right where people would need to cross the street to enter Elliot Hall. Effectively, the net change regarding safety issues is a wash. With regard to extra-Sunday usage, I have never witnessed a regular weekday event require parking beyond a two block’s walk from the church. And no matter how many days per week the concrete happens to be used, it will still lower my property value and destroy houses. The emphasis that has been placed on the fact that the parking lot will actually be utilized is incredible; it is as if a developer were to defend the construction of an office building by assuring everyone that employees would in fact be working there Monday through Friday. Absurd. The planned development is an egregious, PERMANENT intrusion into a single family neighborhood regardless of how many days per week people might use it.
And no, it isn’t 1960 anymore. In 1960 the leaders of HPPC still cared about their neighbors and their excellent relationships with them. This parking lot issue came up in the past and when the head pastor heard that the neighbors didn’t like it, he immediately shut it down. In 2009, 24 elders of HPPC, most of whom do not live here and do not pay UP taxes, decided that saving a minute or two in their walk to the church was more important than anything else. “Love thy neighbor” seems to have gone the way of typewriters and slide rulers. But I’m pretty sure it’s still written down in their Bibles–maybe they should get them out and check.
Any way not to split hairs but HPPC buts up to city parkland and the city offices/firestation catty corner. It’s not what I would call a quiet family street by any stretch. You bought on a busy street… in some cities, they say ” no view is ever guaranteed” meaning that progress and development may change your view or your street.
I’d never presume anything buying the first block off preston next to churches and city offices. The church deserves at least the same consideration as it’s peer churches managed to get. Especially when they already own all the land.
AD: It seems an excellent solution for you, then, would be to avoid “that area” the two hours per week that there are services if you truly consider it “unsafe.” I live right in the middle of “that area” and therefore tend to “pass through” it all the time, including Sunday mornings, and I am as safe and copacetic as can be.
Churchfriend: Yes, I stand corrected. The church is not surrounded completely by single family housing; it is instead surrounded by single family housing and a lovely park. City Hall is a block away from any church building and two blocks away from the proposed parking lot site. I concede, then, the pro-parking lot arguments proffered so far on this page:
1. “…There are families who would use this lot daily if it were built.”
2. The church is bordered on one side by a park.
I do not concede, however, the argument that the parking lot would drastically alleviate safety problems. The church’s own presentation claimed that there were six hundred cars that needed parking on an average Sunday morning. The net space gain due to the parking lot will be a grand total of one hundred thirty. That represents a twenty-one percent reduction in street parking. Perhaps we wish to reevaluate the statement made above that “street parking would be reduced dramatically.” Add the congestion problems caused by a newly expanded Shannon lane housing the main parking lot entrance at the same spot people would have to cross the street to access Elliot Hall, and you have a lot of explaining to do in order to make any argument for a safety improvement. It is frankly sad that your idea of “progress and development” is tearing down homes in the middle of University Park and paving the space they occupied with concrete. Perhaps that would change if said “progress and development” happened to be a commercial development across the street from YOUR house?
1. Jesus would walk…or ride a camel. Maybe camels are the answer.
2. Google Earth Scates’ old parish in Baltimore and his parking “plaza” there. Eyesore. Blight.
3. Make the existing spaces elder/handicap/child/pregnant friendly.
4. The fabric of a neighborhood changing for a cement slab is certifiably insane.
5. When I’ve had to walk 2 blocks w/ my children to their school during a crazy event week, I’ve never thought; Darn these houses, let’s build a parking lot so I don’t have to walk. I have to park on a residential street sometimes when I eat in Preston Center. I sure do wish the houses weren’t there. I could get there 1 minute earlier.
6. This comes down to 1 thing: Church Envy.
I hope this works out for all – for the best. Maybe they should rent out the HS garage on sundays, and run a shuttle service sort of like HPUMC does with Smu Moody Garage. Let’s get creative here!
Mayor: “Hey, Pastor Scates, now I know a few of y’all really want this parking lot thing, but I’ve gotta tell ya. It’s really not going to happen. Those neighbors don’t want it and we just can’t see ever re-zoning SF1 for a parking lot. Those houses are going to stay SF1 as long as I’m here”.
And end of subject. Done deal. Case closed. Roll credits. C’mon Mayor, it’s a 30-second call. Yes, you can.
Sadly, it won’t play out like this. We’ve seen the same movie way too many times. City employees are spending lots of time (=money) on planning and negotiating and alternatives. I’d love to hear how much city money is being spent analyzing and researching alternatives.
Micklethewait and others: Good luck to you. You are the ones with the dog in this hunt. I hope you are successful.
Your favorite things about UP are ours, too. But not enough people realize that the land in this neighborhood, and on University Boulevard–the one and only boulevard in the city, is a finite thing. Once a block of homes is rezoned for a parking lot and unlimited future use, it will never go back. Our fight has always been about preservation of our neighborhood, and we need people like to you consider our points and not take the rare beauty and blessings of this neighborhood for granted. Thank you for your good wishes!
monorail.
it works at disney world. it can work in our
fantasy land too.
On one side you have The Big Church, with all its staff members and other paid consultants, coming back to the City for its 3rd request to expand its footprint(first was in 1969 when they asked to tear down homes and move Shannon Lane, then in 1980′s when decided to build the Hunt Building. Now they want to jump over a public city street (Shannon Ln, which they already caused to be moved once) to rezone a block of single family house for a parking lot and who knows what else.
On the other side, you have The Neighbors, a growing, roiling mob that is not just mad, they are WAY mad! A determined bunch, if there ever was one. I watched the video of the P&Z hearing held earlier this week, and it seems to me that David kicked Goliath in the shins and landed a few good punches. All the reasons The Church gave for wanting (read: not ‘needing’) a parking lot made them look– dare I say it?– self-centered and shallow, with comments about a ‘post-modern church’ and a ‘tendency for consumerism’.
I’m gonna stick around and hope for a happy ending for the neighbors. If this one does go their way it will send a message that our city leaders are willing to stand firm when it comes to preserving homes, trees, neighborhoods – all things that we as homeowners value about living in UP.
For fire and safety purposes I don’t see it happening.
Our petition is at 500+ names and growing (including many who are HPPC members). The opinion of UP homeowners and taxpayers is very important to our elected officials so let your voice be heard! This is a zoning case that the citizens of UP CAN win! To sign our petition, please email us at
nohppcparkinglot@gmail.com and we will arrange to get your signature.
I don’t see much of a difference between the churche’s problem and those of the local schools. Parking at all of them is non-existent, and, yet, there are no plans for parking lots so we can walk our young ones to school or have a “convenient” spot for school events. Let’s face it, the parking and traffic around the schools is a much more pressing problem. I feel for the folks with the preschoolers, but that queue lane on University looks like it moves pretty well.
Oh, and AD, pass by any church with a parking garage on a Sunday and tell me that it has improved traffic flow. If it did, I wouldn’t be stopped by a cop on NW Hwy every Sunday after PCBC services.
So, I was surprised that HPPC did not solicit more neighborhood input when they began planning for this currently debated expansion. They certainly had to know that many of their UP neighbors, and probably several of their own members, would be very skeptical of a major expansion and parking facility that would take homes and dramatically increase traffic problems on University and McFarland; especially on Sundays.
Few who are intimately familiar with University Park would argue that HPPC is a valued and beloved long-time institutional mainstay of our community. And, nobody with good eyesight and driving skills could dispute HPPC’s need for more Sunday service parking.
But, it should also be remembered that University Park is quite unique in that it is landlocked on all sides by Dallas and Highland Park, and it already hosts a huge proportionate share of tax-exempt property. SMU; our many parks; our municipal facilities; the HPISD High School, Middle School, two elementary schools, and the HPISD Administration Building; the YMCA; the Holmes Aquatic Center; and some of the largest Churches in the country all represent cherished jewels in our community. But, they are also tax-exempt gems that raise our taxes whenever they convert taxable property to tax-exempt property. (Highland Park has only two elementary schools.)
Most residents of University Park certainly want our Churches to be successful, and to see them prosper. In these difficult times, it’s good to know we have wonderful houses of worship to minister to the spiritual or other needs of our friends and neighbors. However, Church growth should not be a burden on its neighbors, should not reduce the property values, or cause them other undeserved elements of harm.
From a traffic standpoint, Park Cities Baptist Church and University Park Methodist Church have advantages HPPC does not enjoy. PCBC is on Northwest Highway, and disburses the parking from its underground garage away from neighborhoods.
UPMC is located on Preston Road, and disburses most of its surface parking constituents quickly onto Preston’s four lanes and other directions.
My guess is that if HPPC would go back to the drawing board, reduce considerably the footprint it proposed, create an underground parking garage, expedite Sunday garage access and egress with the help of additional UPPD officers, and make better use of off-site shuttles, I think many of the neighbors would mitigate their objections.
The neighbors aren’t looking for a perfect solution – just one everyone can have faith in and live with.
wjmj
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