The director of planning and urban design, Julia Ryan, will work through Sept. 20, and Davíd Noguera, the director of housing and neighborhood revitalization, will leave two days later, Broadnax said in the memo.
“I want to thank both Julia and Davíd for their service to Dallas,” Broadnax said in an emailed statement. “They have played an integral role in advancing critical projects and initiatives during their tenures. They will be missed, but we wish them the best.”
Ryan joined the city in May 2021 as assistant director of the planning and urban design department and was named director in January 2022, according to the Friday memo. During her time with the city, Ryan’s department completed several plans, including the Hensley Field Master Plan and the West Oak Cliff Area Plan. Environmental justice and equity have been key goals of the department during this time.
Ryan spearheaded a zoning change that required public hearings and specific use permits for all new permanent and temporary batch plants through Dallas’ first citywide future land use plan. According to the memo, she also worked to lead the city’s preservation and urban design team, which focuses on the conservation of historic and cultural places in Dallas, and she secured funding for an overhaul of the city’s outdated development code.
Ryan said in an emailed statement that she’s been privileged and humbled to serve the city of Dallas and Broadnax over the last couple of years, and has enjoyed the challenges that the position has brought. She said the decision to resign was difficult and not one she took lightly, but an opportunity came up that will allow her to move closer to her family in the northwest Arkansas region. While her tenure was short, she said she’s proud of the work of the department to make environmental justice and equity a priority. She’s also confident that the department will continue to make positive strides in Dallas for years to come with the city's land use plan, ForwardDallas, and the overhaul of the city’s outdated and antiquated development code.
“These two pieces of important work have positive implications in many areas of the city, including housing production, ease of development and permitting, and infrastructure planning,” Ryan said."They will be missed, but we wish them the best.” – City Manager T.C. Broadnax
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She said the best advice she would give to her successor is to get to know the neighborhoods in Dallas that are experiencing gentrification, displacement and environmental justice concerns. “One of the emerging threats I see is the scale at which change is occurring in neighborhoods across the city, but more frequently in areas of Black and Hispanic populations,” she said. “Places like La Bajada and Elm Thicket, where new, out of scale single-family residential development is now looming over smaller houses and threatening gentrification and displacement.”
She said she’s hopeful that the overhaul of Dallas’ development code can address this issue.
Noguera, who didn’t respond to requests for comment, joined the city in 2017 and reorganized the housing and neighborhood revitalization department, Broadnax said in the memo. The outgoing director also resolved almost $50 million in audit findings without financial penalty and designed programs, financial incentives and processes to develop and preserve mixed-income housing.
During his time with the department, Noguera generated new revenues and a pipeline of nearly 20,000 housing units through the Dallas Housing Finance Corporation, Dallas Public Facility Corporation, the Dallas Housing Acquisition and Development Corporation and the Mixed Income Housing Development Bonus Program.
Bryan Tony, one of the principal organizers for the group Dallas Housing Coalition, which is advocating that $200 million be spent on housing in the next bond package, said he had mixed feelings learning about Noguera’s resignation.
“I’m sad to see him go, but I know that he has put his team in a really good position to carry the work forward of the Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization Department with confidence,” Tony said.
But Tony doesn’t think it will impact the coalition's goal of securing funds for housing in the upcoming bond package. “No change inside city hall changes the need for affordable housing in Dallas,” he said. “We know that we are still experiencing a housing crisis, and that our advocacy will still need to continue. Staff turnover happens but the need for funding is still there.”
