Key Take Aways From Dallas' July Meeting!

·??????Kimber Davison with Griffith Davison shared that she is Board certified in both construction law and real estate law and that she is the only attorney who is Board certified in both fields.

·??????James Smith of Smith, Jackson, Buyer and Bovard shared the following information regarding the continuing issues in dealing with the IRS:

o??Currently there are 11.2 million unprocessed paper tax returns

o??Currently there are 2.8 million unprocessed amended paper returns

o??It is “impossible” to reach anyone at the IRS, whether it’s by telephone, written correspondence, email, fax, etc.

Julia Ryan with the City of Dallas, our guest speaker, shared the following information with the group:?

·??????Urban Planning has been around since the creation of the city and they provide guidance regarding how a city should look, feel, and operate. ?

·??????Dallas is the 9th largest city in the U.S. and the third largest in Texas with a population of 1,281,047.?

·??????Dallas consists of approximately 360 square miles of land.?The land use is not regulatory, but zoning use is regulated.?

·??????Roads, highways and other transit functions make up around 1/5th of Dallas’s land usage.?

·??????Dallas’ Development Code has had no major updates since 1987 and it’s based off a Code from 1965.?The plans are to develop a modern, updated and user-friendly development code that is streamlined, consistent, clear, aligned with all city plans and policies.?They will also focus on deficient, outdated, overly complex and/or unnecessary inhibited development.

?·??????“Forward Dallas” is the City’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan to establish unified vision of future land use as well as serving as a guide for future decisions about zoning, development, public funding and infrastructure.?It will also outline specific goals, strategies and actions and establish priorities.?

·??????Dallas is looking at the DART stations to see about developing/using the under-utilized parking lots to help promote future development.?There is a need for better transit transportation because more and more people do not want to drive their cars around the metroplex and would prefer a more convenient city-wide transit system.?

·??????Regarding the long wait time for zoning requests, which is currently 6 months, the city is working on hiring additional staff to assist in the city’s Zoning Department to speed up response time.?They realize it’s an ongoing issue and are doing their best to rectify the longer wait time.?“Zoning Planners are Saints”!