Dallas committee tightens urban renewal grant rules, raises scoring minimum to 75

At a meeting of the Dallas Urban Renewal Advisory Committee, city staff presented a revised draft for a unified urban renewal grant program intended to combine prior small-project and construction grant streams into a single packet of guidelines, worksheets and a reworked scoring rubric.

Staff said the packet adds explicit eligible uses for ADA improvements and technical assistance and adds an explicit ineligible use: hiring a grant writer or other technical assistance not related to building design or construction. The draft also clarifies that single-family homes are ineligible unless converted to commercial use, and that multifamily projects may be eligible only if they meet Central Business District zoning requirements (for example, housing on upper floors with commercial ground-floor use).

A central change is a proposed minimum score of 75 points for funding consideration. "The project must reach a minimum of 75 points," staff said, adding that projects scoring below 75 would be returned to applicants with their scores and invited to reapply in a later cycle. Staff said the higher floor is intended to encourage…