Behring Letter

Dear Councilmembers,
In support of Forward Dallas, I would like to share with you a few short anecdotes of how living
in a mixed-housing-density neighborhood and street have positively impacted my life. I
appreciate you taking the time to read and listen. I have tried to be brief.
I live in a small 1922 home in Oak Cliff, directly on an old streetcar line – Burlington Boulevard.
My 1,400 square foot house was a duplex until the 1960’s. My neighbor directly to the west is a
duplex, and my neighbor to the east is a large, multi-generational home. We are not overrun
with parking and enjoy having more neighbors at this very reasonable scale. One neighbor and I
trade mowing each other’s front yards. Another neighbor and I swap sharing tools. Another, kid
clothes.
Our zoning is R7.5, and so today it is illegal to build a duplex here (or convert a single-family
house to one), whereas my neighbor’s duplex has been here for over 100 years.
The concepts of a "scarcity mindset" and an "abundance mindset" were popularized by author
Stephen Covey in his 1989 book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” The scarcity mentality
sees life (and for our discussion, city housing) as a zero-sum game, a finite pie. If one person
gets a large piece, there is less for everyone else. An abundance mindset allows people to see
possibilities even at time when resources are limited.
In Charles Marohn’s recent book “Escaping The Housing Trap” he astutely describes the impact
of development as having “diffuse benefits and concentrated harms”. The benefits are wide
ranging (less competition for housing, lower prices, more choice), but the harms (construction
noise, additional cars, changes to the landscape) are hyper-local. There is a human psychology
there. People tend to devote time and energy to something when it impacts them directly, not
when it benefits them more broadly. Thus he argues that it is often the minority of opponents,
not the majority of passive beneficiaries who devote time and are heard. This (and a lack of
understanding of economics) is driving much of the negative discussion in my opinion.
I recently sat down and did a simplistic analysis of property tax revenue to the City at varying
housing densities (as shown in the table below), sampling like-sized properties in my area:
vacant land, parking lot, single family, duplex, four plex and small mixed-use. The results were
pretty direct. Single family only density (for which our city is currently 86%) does not cover our
current expenditures, much less future obligations across our sprawling 385 square miles of
road, pipe, and grid. Only once we cross over from an average of 2-units per lot to 4-units per
lot do we breakeven with our expenditures. Land use should always be considered in light of the
fiscal health of our City, in addition to the social benefits described in my anecdote above.
DISTRICT 1 - FISCAL ANALYSIS (SAMPLE LOTS)
VACANT LAND PARKING LOT SINGLE FAMILY DUPLEX FOURPLEX MIXED USE
336 Melba &
600 Elsbeth St. 201 & 209 W 8th St. 617 W. Neely St. 722 Winnetka Ave 610 Winston Street 337 W 9th
Parcel Size (SF) 12,870 11,515 6,898 7,477 7,969 11,637
Parcel Size (Acre) 0.30 0.26 0.16 0.17 0.18 0.27
Taxable Value ($) $450,450 $662,120 $358,850 $514,320 $660,130 $2,774,710

Taxable Value Per Land SF ($) $35 $58 $52 $69 $83 $238
Taxable Value Per Acre ($) $1,524,600 $2,504,728 $2,266,092 $2,996,359 $3,608,390 $10,386,385
Taxable Value Over Vacant Land Value (%) - 64% 49% 97% 137% 581%
Tax Rate per $100 - 0.7458

Approximate Taxes Collected By City Per Acre $11,370 $18,680 $16,901 $22,347 $26,911 $77,462
Covers City Expenditures No No No Yes Yes Yes

Delta To Cover ($4,290,237,633) ($2,484,893,110.91) ($2,924,447,758.13) ($1,579,334,817.60) $6,646,463,832.19 $12,032,701,581
Base Stats
Size of Dallas (Sq. Mi.) 385.9
Size of Dallas (Acres) 246,976
2022-2023 Budget Expenditures $3,898,470,041 2023 City Budget

2024 Bond Election (Debt) $1,000,000,000 2024 Bond Election
Deferred Street Maintenance (as of 2022) $700,000,000 Deferred Street Maintenance
Stormwater Mitigation (as of 2018) $1,500,000,000 Deferred Stormwater Projects
Police & Fire Needs
DISD Needs
Other
Expenditures Per Acre $28,742
**IF DALLAS WAS ALL **IF DALLAS WAS ALL **IF DALLAS WAS ALL **IF DALLAS WAS ALL **IF DALLAS WAS ALL **IF DALLAS WAS ALL
LAND AT THIS VALUE PARKING LOT SINGLE FAMILY HOMES DUPLEX HOUSING FOURPLEX HOUSING 2/3-STORY MIXED-USE
1
Finally, a recent study by the National Association of Realtors found that 53% of American
households would prefer to live in an attached dwelling (apartment, condo, townhome) rather
than a detached single-family home if it meant they would have an easy walk to shops and
restaurants. But only about 8% of our built environment delivers that choice, creating a
tremendous gap between supply and demand. Missing Middle Housing provides choices
Americans want.
Although Forward Dallas is only a guiding document, it is important that we understand the
tremendous social and economic implications of planning for the future of our city. I love Dallas
and want to see it have a thriving future for generations. I, and Charles Marohn (the author
mentioned above) predict that many municipalities will go bankrupt in the coming decades by
going all in on the suburban sprawl experiment. If we want to avoid this fate and look boldly
into Dallas’ future with an abundance mindset we can start by passing Forward Dallas.
Thank you for your service,
Ryan Behring

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Dear Councilmembers,

Taxable Value ($) $450,450 $662,120 $358,850 $514,320 $660,130 $2,774,710

Tax Rate per $100 - 0.7458

Covers City Expenditures No No No Yes Yes Yes

2022-2023 Budget Expenditures $3,898,470,041 2023 City Budget

Expenditures Per Acre $28,742

Thank you for your service,

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