* Alan Elliott, Patricia Summey and Gayla Brooks will talk about the folks featured in their new book Legendary Locals of Oak Cliff at the North Oak Cliff branch library Thursday evening.  That would be the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Babe Didrikson, T-Bone Walker and more.  Gets underway at 6:30 p.m. at 302 W. 10th St.

* Singer-songwriter Lisa Markley, making her home these days in the Bishop Arts area, will headline a performance Friday night at Uncle Calvin’s Coffeehouse in North Dallas.  Read more about her and the show right cheer. 

Dispatches have arrived about Jefferson Boulevard and the Coombs Creek Trail. 

The Dallas City Plan Commission last week gave its blessing to the proposed rezoning along and near Jefferson Boulevard.  Now it’s on to Final Authority, your City Council. 

And word is some of those gathered last week to talk about the upcoming CC Trail extension didn’t want no stinking public art along the way, while others worried that walkers and bikers would face the danger of flying balls near the Stevens Park Golf Course.  We await developments…

This stretch of Jefferson Boulevard is among 179 acres of property included in a proposed rezoning. 

Decisions are drawing ever-nigh on the rezonings of more than 1,000 prime Oak Cliff acres. 

The City Plan Commission has scheduled a public hearing this Thursday afternoon on proposed land-use changes to the Jefferson Area Special Purpose District.  City Council consideration is tentatively set for Aug. 13. 

The 176-acre target area is generally bounded by Beckley Avenue and alleys south of 12th Street, west of Polk Street and north of Sunset Avenue — with Jefferson Boulevard running through its core. 

The rezoning is focusing on an easing of parking restrictions and a changing of building uses allowed in some areas, among other measures. 

For example, boutique hotels, live-work spaces and sales of alcoholic beverages would be allowed along Jefferson for a change, while new day-care centers, pawn shops and taxidermists wouldn’t be allowed in the future.  Any rezoning wouldn’t force businesses to move.  Below see some nuts and bolts presented to the plan commission earlier this month. 

The latest schedule for the 850-acre Oak Cliff Gateway rezoning calls for plan commission briefings July 10 and 24 (this session might include public comment, we’re told) and a public hearing and possible action by the commission on Aug. 7.  Then it’s on to the council Sept. 10.  Subject to change. 

If approved the Gateway rezoning would clear the way for dramatic changes in areas bounded roughly by Zang, Beckley, I-30.  the Trinity River levee, I-35, Marsalis and Eighth Street. 

Zang at Beckley is among the major intersections in the Oak Cliff Gateway rezoning case. 

In Oak Cliff zoning news:

The City Plan Commission will receive a staff briefing Thursday on the proposed rezoning of 176 acres along and near Jefferson Boulevard. 

It’s a milestone of sorts, with the matter making it to the commission after months of work by a task force and community meeting.  Next will be a commission hearing and then on to the City Council. 

For now the redo of the Jefferson Area Special Purpose District, aka Planned Development 316, would ease parking restrictions and change allowed uses of property in the target area.  The goal: economic and public benefit.  Read more about it right here and here. 

Speaking of meetings, meetings and more meetings, after almost 10 years of talk the good old Oak Cliff Gateway area rezoning is moving ever closer to official action. 

A draft ordinance covering land-use rules for some 850 acres is now available for public review before decision time.  See below. 

The target area stretches roughly from a Trinity River levee inland to near the Bishop Arts District, encompassing portions of Zang, Colorado and Jefferson boulevards.  See map below. 

As Jim Lake Jr.’s redevelopment near the Jefferson Tower continues, a rezoning of the area is moving toward official action. 

A revised ordinance governing land use in the 176-acre Jefferson Area Special Purpose District will be presented at a City Plan Commission briefing on May 22 and will be the subject of a plan commission hearing on June 5. 

See the draft ordinance, current and proposed land uses and a supporting map below. 

So to keep the project coming as planned, Lake is asking the city to up its ante in the upgrade. 

He cleared a first hurdle this morning with the City Council Economic Development Committee.  The matter goes to the full council on April 23. 

If approved, a previously awarded $1.5 million city economic development grant will be increased by $345,000. 

In a memo to the committee, Ryan Evans, interim first assistant city manager wrote: “Without the proposed additional funding, project completion will be delayed and the benefits to the city reduced.” 

Lake says the new money will go toward a sound system, a camera security system and parking lot improvements.  Those were put on hold, he said, when project costs overran the budget by more than $1 million. 

In the meantime, construction continues in and near the Jefferson Tower in the 300 block of West Jefferson at Madison Avenue. 

Lake says the Small Brewpub should be open by July and finish-out of the development’s other retail space completed by October. 

Also:

* Seventeen live-work lofts above the retail should be ready for occupancy by November, if not before. 

* The Jefferson Tower itself is 85 percent leased, and the owner of La Calle Doce and El Ranchito restaurants has secured the eighth (top) floor for an events venue. 

* Current tenants in the 300 block of West Jefferson have leases to remain. 

* Lake said he is discussions about including a police store front in the project. 

“Think of what’s put out there as a straw man,” City Council member Scott Griggs told the crowd of 75 or so people at Methodist Hospital’s Hitt Auditorium. “ It’s put out there as a starting place to get your feedback.  Nothing’s been finalized yet.” 

Put out there for public consumption were highlights of proposed revisions to Planned Development 316, a zoning district generally bounded by Beckley Avenue and alleys south of 12th Street, west of Polk Street and north of Sunset Avenue.  With Jefferson running through its core. 

Drafted by a task force through months of meetings, the rezoning is focusing on an easing of parking restrictions and a changing of building uses allowed in some areas, among other measures. 

For example, boutique hotels, live-work spaces and alcoholic beverage purveyors could open along Jefferson for a change, while new day-care centers, pawn shops and taxidermists wouldn’t be allowed in the future.  See below. 

Again, it’s all still a proposal.  Any rezoning wouldn’t force businesses to move.  And it all awaits decisions by the City Plan Commission and City Council.  A plan commission briefing is targeted for February, with public hearings tentatively planned for the commission in March and council in April. 

So do the folks at the Dallas CityDesign Studio, who are shepherding planning for public space improvements along Jefferson.  Voters approved almost $1.5 million for such work in 2012, and the focus has been on improved landscaping, crosswalks, sidewalks and alleyways, making the area more inviting for the public, shoppers and merchants.  See below.  Learn more and have your say with these contacts. 

A previous plan to widen the Jefferson median and eliminate traffic lanes in a two-block stretch has been shelved, David Whitley, the DesignStudio’s associate director, told the audience. “ We listened to the community’s feedback and went back to the drawing board,” he said to applause. 

At the outset, Griggs called Jefferson “one of the most important streets in the city of Dallas.”  He talked about potential: “We want to Jefferson the best Jefferson Jefferson can be.” 

The council member talked about problems. “ There’s a short list of bad businesses,” he said, mentioning Club 216 and the Patio Bar, both near Jefferson.  Three people were injured in a recent shooting outside the Patio Bar, and a man was fatally stabbed outside Club 216 last year, for example. “ If you’re going to have shootings and deal drugs there’s no place for you” in the area, he said. 

Griggs also offered words of support and stability: “Our purpose here is not to run out the businesses along Jefferson.” 

Rather a goal is to maintain buildings as they currently exist, he said, and “allow uses to change gradually over time based on what the market wants.” 

In the meantime, the council member said, existing businesses won’t be required to move.  And he doesn’t want any current uses to be branded “non-conforming,” which could hurt business owners’ ability to improve their space. 

Other goals would further a gradual increase in property values and equity as the Jefferson area thrives, he said, and would prevent costly property value spikes “like you get with gentrification.” 

“We want to know what you think,” Griggs said. “ The most important part of tonight is getting your feedback.” 

Audience responses included concerns for improved lighting, security and safety.  Such will be addressed, Griggs said. “ Lighting and alleys are a priority.” 

An increase in parking meter limits to four hours from the current two hours was suggested.  Griggs said he liked the idea.  Asked after the meeting about just eliminating parking meters along Jefferson, the council member said such had merit as well. ( More to come on this.) 

And the city representatives were reminded that past commitments for public improvements along Jefferson fell short. 

Learn and talk about proposed changes to the Jefferson Boulevard corridor this evening at Methodist Dallas Medical Center’s Hitt Auditorium. 

Council Council member Scott Griggs and city staff will be there to talk about a proposed rezoning, landscaping improvements (see below) and perhaps more.  Starts at 6:30 p.m.

A task force has been chewing over amendments to Planned Development 316, aka the Jefferson Special Purpose District, as shown in the map above.  The proposed changes include reducing parking requirements, allowing cafe-style sidewalk seating, expanding building uses and other changes. 

The meeting also will include an unveiling of plans for city bond-funded projects along five blocks of Jefferson, including streetscape additions and signs. 

Construction is underway at Jefferson Tower between Madison and Bishop Avenue.  Jim Lake Companies is redeveloping the property for retail and residential lofts, with lighting, sidewalk upgrades and other improvements planned as well. 

Word is, Small Brewpub will be a purveyor of drinks and eats in renovated space near the eight-story tower.  Other street-side tenants include Bella Dental, Family Dollar and the ever-popular Gonzalez Restaurant. 

To clear the way for those lofts and ease other restrictions in the area, a rezoning has been in the works for months.  A task force has been involved, focusing on reducing parking requirements, allowing cafe-style sidewalk seating, expanding building uses and other changes. 

And proposed amendments to the rules governing Planned Development 316 will be presented at a public meeting Monday, Jan. 13 at Hitt Auditorium.  Starts at 6:30 p.m.

The meeting will include an unveiling of plans for city bond-funded improvements near and along Jefferson.  City Council member Scott Griggs and city staff will be there Monday to field questions, etc. 

The Jefferson-area upgrades will include landscaping and signs now targeted for a five-block area between Beckley and Llewellyn.  But a previous proposal for reducing a stretch of the street to one lane in each direction is a no-go, Griggs says. 

Van Johnson's yard is among the stops on a citywide tour this weekend. 

And now for some more Oak Cliff opportunities:

The second-annual Oak Cliff Film Festival continues tonight with screenings at the Texas Theatre and Bishop Arts Theater Center.  Get some tastes of the brewpub coming to the Jefferson Tower, 333 W. Jefferson Blvd.,  at a pop-up beer party there from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight.  The festival runs through Sunday.  Details right cheer. 

Van Johnson’s place at 2306 Lawndale near Hampton and Interstate 30 will be among the stops on a citywide tour of garden ponds.  Check it out from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday — and in the photo above.  Details about the tour right here. 

Southwest Center Mall in Oak Cliff will host a concert and donation drive for the Moore, Okla., tornado victims Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. See the flier below for more details.