South Dallas Public Improvement District: How to Get Involved

Scottie Smith II wants South Dallas residents and property owners to shape what comes next for their neighborhood, before outside developers do it for them.

Smith, a community developer and real estate broker who co-chaired the South Dallas Fair Park Area Plan Task Force, is leading a petition drive to create the Sunny South Dallas Public Improvement District. The effort follows approval from the Dallas Office of Economic Development, and Smith has scheduled four community information sessions this month to build the signatures and support the process requires.

A public improvement district, or PID, is a self-imposed property tax that funds specific services within a defined area. Security patrols, landscaping, street cleaning and recreational improvements all fall under what a PID can provide. Dallas already operates PIDs in Deep Ellum, Downtown, the Arts District, Redbird and Uptown, among other areas.

Smith told the Dallas Free Press that the timing is intentional. Development is already moving along the MLK corridor, and he says the community needs a financial tool in place before that momentum outpaces the people who live and do business there now.

“We’re at a really, really interesting point in South Dallas, and knowing the amount of development coming over here that I have wind of, coming up and down the MLK corridor, I’m afraid there’s not going to be a way for the community to benefit from that for real,” Smith said. “We’ve seen it before where development came extremely quickly, and then people started getting displaced.”

Displacement is a concern Dallas neighborhoods have grappled with repeatedly as investment flows into historically disinvested areas. Smith sees the PID as a proactive mechanism, giving South Dallas stakeholders a seat at the table and a dedicated revenue stream before that cycle repeats.

If the petition clears the required threshold and Dallas City Council approves the district, property owners within the PID boundaries would pay an additional 15 cents per $100 of assessed property value each year. On a property appraised at $300,000, that amounts to $450 annually. Smith projects the PID would generate at least $9 million over the next decade.

The proposed annual budget breaks down the spending priorities: 42 percent toward public safety, 20 percent toward district beautification, 7 percent toward business retention and recruitment, and 7 percent toward capital improvements.

The PID footprint covers stretches of Al Lipscomb Way, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, South Fitzhugh Avenue and Robert B. Cullum Boulevard. Fair Park falls within the proposed boundaries as well. Forest Forward, a South Dallas-based organization, would manage the district, and Smith is currently recruiting community members to a steering committee that would oversee how the funds are spent.

That governance structure matters. Giving local residents direct oversight of a dedicated budget is a different proposition than relying on city resources or waiting for private development to deliver community benefits that may never arrive.

Community members who want to weigh in, sign the petition or learn more can attend any of the upcoming sessions Smith has organized:

Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 6 p.m. at Forest Forward Offices, 1921 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Wednesday, Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. at The Office of Tabitha Wheeler, 2111 S. 2nd Ave.

Saturday, Dec. 13 at 11 a.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, 2922 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Wednesday, Dec. 17 at 6 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Recreation Center, 2922 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Dallas City Council could take up the Sunny South Dallas PID once the petition process wraps.

The proposal comes at a moment when Fair Park and the surrounding corridors are drawing renewed attention from investors and city planners. Whether that attention translates into durable benefits for current South Dallas residents likely depends on whether tools like this PID get established early enough to matter. Smith is betting they do, and he’s asking his neighbors to join him in making that call.