Despite Opposition, Dallas Gets One Step Closer to Landing Its First H-E-B

Fans of H-E-B’s fresh-made tortillas rejoice: During Thursday's City Plan Commission meeting, the Texas grocery store chain received the first of two needed green lights to build its first store within Dallas city limits.

A dozen residents spoke in opposition to the store’s North Dallas expansion plan, arguing that a grocer on the 10-acre plot of land on the corner of Hillcrest Road and LBJ Freeway would increase traffic congestion in the area, promote noise, and disrupt the general peace of nearby residential neighborhoods.

Only three individuals spoke in favor of the plan (one of whom lives in Austin but called in to the meeting because his uncle, who evidently lives near the H-E-B site, asked him to). Still, the plan commission unanimously approved the grocery store’s rezoning request. Commissioner Mike Sims, whose district will host the grocery store, said the horseshoe received 91 emails in favor of the development over the last few days.

The rezoning request needed to build the store will now head to the City Council, where a supermajority vote would be required to override the plan commission’s approval.

“If we think about the history of Dallas, the only thing that has been unchanged is that Dallas changes,” said Sims. “We are the anchor city of one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country, and I think the way that that continues to be true is that Dallas is a place where people want to live, work, shop and eat. And I would suggest that this zoning change would be a positive step in that direction.”

On Thursday morning, commissioners were briefed on a site plan and traffic survey of the area that determined the store will not significantly adversely affect the surrounding traffic flow, thanks to mitigation measures proposed by H-E-B. One such measure is the construction of a right-turn lane on Hillcrest Road that the grocer has pledged to build “as soon as possible” on the city’s behalf.

Ghassan Khankarli, Dallas’ director of transportation, told the commission that such a right-turn lane has been a needed traffic-calming measure at the intersection for years, and that H-E-B’s taking it on will relieve the city of the time and costs that would come from taking the project on itself.

“I'm going to rely on the science here, and even if the science is slightly off and I have to wait just a little bit longer at that intersection, then I'm going to balance that off with the benefit (of the grocery store),” said commission Chair Tony Shadid.

Still, some neighbors argued that H-E-B’s popularity and scarcity will make the grocery store a regional destination, ramping up traffic in the area past the level recorded in current traffic surveys. H-E-B currently has several other locations in North Texas, including in Plano, Frisco and Waxahachie.

“We have to live with this, and we are very, very upset with what we have coming,” said Kathy Coffman, a member of the Hillcrest Preservation Coalition that has organized opposition to the grocery store expansion.

Many opposed to the store proposal pointed out that H-E-B grocery stores are generally built on plots of land larger than 10 acres. They worried that the North Dallas plan “shoehorns” a store onto an inadequate piece of property, and that a lack of parking space will lead to overcrowding and overflow parking in nearby neighborhoods.

As part of the zoning change that will allow H-E-B to develop a grocery store on the land, the company introduced a set of deed restrictions that will help prevent unwanted land uses from being used in the future, if plans for the grocery store are ever sidetracked. Those prohibited uses are maintenance shops or shops requiring heavy machinery, pawn shops, funeral homes, bus stations and vehicle sales stores.

It was unclear in Thursday’s meeting when H-E-B plans to break ground on the new grocery store. According to our food editor, Lauren Drewes Daniels, a late 2026 opening is a possibility.

“If we can't put the best grocery retailer in the state of Texas on an interstate highway in Dallas, I don't know where we can put it,” said commissioner Tipton Housewright. “(The H-E-B company) opened two Joe V's south of Interstate 30 in the last 15 months, when one of our local grocery operators backed out of a commitment south of 30. That speaks volumes to their commitment to wherever they are, and I'm certain that that commitment will continue at the corner of Hillcrest and 635.”