Police Academy 2

Hello, friend,

Plans for a new $150 million Dallas police regional training academy to be housed at the University of North Texas at Dallas (UNT Dallas) have hit a bit of a speed bump, according to this City Hall memo and a recent report in The Dallas Morning News.

The academy will require two sites to accommodate “essential non-classroom components,” including an emergency vehicle training course and outdoor gun range. As a result, City Council members are being asked this Wednesday to reject all bids and cancel a pending procurement for a project construction manager at risk (CMAR) that must now be re-issued.

“This action is necessary due to changes in project's scope and schedule that were included in the CMAR solicitation,” says the memo to City Council members from two assistant city managers. “These changes in scope… have impacted vendor participation because some companies that may have been interested in the revised scope were not given the opportunity to submit proposals.”

Friday’s memo says the academy "programming process” that began in August of last year “identified the need for a secondary location that, at a minimum, provides adequate space for key outdoor training elements, including scenario-based exercises.”

The news comes a little over a year after an announcement that Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) awarded a $10 million grant for the new academy. Voters in May approved $50 million in bond funds for the academy, and the state legislature in 2023 committed $20 million. Private fundraising is ongoing with a goal of raising another $70 million.

City Council awarded Downtown-based HKS, Inc., an academy design contract in August and the design phase formally kicked off in October.

Dallas has needed a new police academy for decades. Generations of officers have trained at an outdated and inadequate former industrial strip center in Red Bird that former Chief Eddie Garcia called “embarrassing” (this June 2021 memo details some of the many challenges at that facility).

A key question is whether these procurement complications threaten the public timeline that included construction starting this year and finishing in 2027. A delay could not come at a worse time.

A voter-approved City Charter amendment requires the hiring of about 900 new officers to bring the uniformed force to 4,000. City Council members are also voting this week on whether to boost the current year hiring goal from 250 to 300 or 325. Interim Police Chief Michael T. Igo told council members that he could not go above 300 without pulling a significant number of officers off the streets to support training, risking a spike in violent crime.

The long-awaited state-of-the-art training facility would go a long way toward boosting training capacity and attracting new recruits.

📖 Table of Contents

• 📰 Highlights From Last Week's Meetings

• 📝 Memos of Interest

• 🤝 Meetings of Interest: Feb. 24 - 28

  • Monday, February 24

    • City Council Ballot Drawing

    • Housing and Homelessness Committee

    • Gov. Performance and Financial Mgmt Committee

  • Tuesday, February 25

    • DART Board

    • Fair Park First Board

  • Wednesday, February 26

    • Dallas City Council

📰 Highlights From Last Week’s Meetings of Interest

• Members of the Dallas City Council transportation committee voted to advance to City Council a resolution supporting full funding for Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART). The vote came days before twin bills were filed in the Texas House and Senate that could substantially cut DART funding from some of the agency’s service area cities, D Magazine and The Dallas Morning News reports.

• City Plan Commissioners (CPC) voted to recommend a five-year Specific Use Permit (SUP) for University Park to remodel a Dallas building into a police training facility. The building is on Fondren Drive, west of Greenville Avenue. The plan includes an indoor gun range, gym, and meeting rooms. No training will be allowed outside the facility, under the CPC plan. City Council approval is next.

• Park Board members voted unanimously on Thursday to rename College Park in southern Dallas the “Fahim J. Minkah Community Park” in response to a long-standing community push to honor the late community activist. *I am a member of the Park Board, representing the Lake Highlands area (District 10).

📝 Memos of Interest

• City Hall recently issued a Request for Proposals for digital advertising boards to be installed on sidewalks in Downtown, Uptown, and other areas of Dallas that would draw the most eyeballs. Many advocacy groups and property owners have long opposed the plan. City Council members are expected to vote on a contract with a selected vendor as soon as April 23, according to this memo. Read the full RFP here.

• On May 5, the City is publicly launching a new land management platform, DallasNow, that integrates all permitting, planning, engineering, and enforcement in one place, according to this memo.

• Here’s the complete City Manager memo packet for Friday, February 21, 2025.

🤝 Meetings of Interest: Feb. 24 - 28

Monday, February 24

City Council Ballot Drawing, 8:15 a.m., Flag Room, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

• The drawing determines the order that candidates’ names appear on the May ballots. Each candidate is invited to participate or send a representative.

City Council Housing and Homelessness Solutions Committee, 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

• One in five Dallas neighborhoods are in the early stages of gentrification, mostly in southern Dallas, according to this report from community development corporation Builders of Hope.

City Council Government Performance and Financial Management Committee, 1 p.m., Council Chambers, 6ES Council Briefing Room, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

• Curious about how Dallas is spending more than $1 billion in voter-approved bond dollars dating as far back as the 2006 bond program? Jenny from the bond provides an update here.

• Committee members will discuss future plans for select City-owned properties, including three sites within Downtown. Read the briefing.

Tuesday, February 25

Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Committee-of-the-Whole, 3 p.m., DART Conference Room C, 1st Floor; Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board of Directors, 6 p.m., DART Board Room, DART Headquarters, 1401 Pacific Ave., Dallas; Watch Live Here

• Board members will consider a resolution to require a two-thirds vote for annual budget approval, as opposed to the current simple majority requirement. This is one of several governance changes pushed by representatives for suburban cities due to concerns over Dallas’ eight-seat majority.

• Board members will also consider a $5 million increase in the agency’s contract with Uber for GoLink on-demand services. As noted in the above chart, the service is increasingly popular.

Fair Park First Board of Directors, 4 p.m., Fair Park Visitor Center, 3535 Grand Avenue, Dallas; Watch Live at facebook.com/fairparkfirst

• Nonprofit board members are expected to discuss finances, facilities, and other operational updates.

Wednesday, February 26

Dallas City Council Meeting, 9 a.m., Council Chambers, 6th Floor, Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St.

• Item 18: An allocation of more than $17 million primarily for water and wastewater main improvements, with a portion for bike lanes, along Riverfront Boulevard from Cadiz Street to Justice Center Way. This portion of the money mostly comes from 2006 voter-approved bond funds on a joint city-county project that started in 2008 and now has an estimated total price tag of $123 million.

• Item 55: Closed-door discussions continue on the future of the former Dallas Morning News headquarters at 508 Young Street, a portion of which City officials have said is needed to build the new convention center. The City may still try to purchase the property or alter convention center design plans, The Dallas Morning News reports.

• Item 60: A resolution to increase the Dallas police hiring goal from 250 to 325 officers for this fiscal year. Interim Police Chief Michael T. Igo has said the department cannot safety handle a goal above 300.

• Item 61: The aforementioned rejection of bids and cancellation of procurement for a construction manager on the planned new Dallas police regional training academy at UNT Dallas. A new Request for Proposals will be issued with a revised scope that includes two sites.

• Zoning Case Z3: Renewal of a Specific Use Permit (SUP) for McDonald’s to continue operating a drive-thru at 1000 Commerce Street in Downtown. City Plan Commissioners last year recommended a new two-year SUP over objections from some urbanists who argue that a drive-thru is not appropriate for the urban core. A majority of commissioners said the business that has operated for decades deserves at least another two years of drive-thru operations. Read more from the Dallas Business Journal.

🗣️ Quote of Interest

Did I miss anything? Do you have any questions? Just want to talk about meetings and memos and other fun stuff? Hit me up.