Dallas residents and business leaders have crafted a vision for their city. Now planning experts hope to implement it -- with 120,000 new households, homes and jobs within walking distance, and a wide range of housing options north and south of the Trinity River by 2030.

"What the public has said they want is actually good for the region and good for the city," said John Fregonese, the planner hired to craft Dallas' first Comprehensive Plan. Dallas "can't just be a job center. By attracting more housing in the city ... you'll have more retail sales tax, more property tax. And you're improving air quality and traffic in the region."

Urban planners will brief City Council members today on the results of their citywide meetings, conducted over the last few months at community centers, churches and schools. And they will outline their strategy for the coming months and years -- including plans to revamp the city's zoning categories. "If we're going to compete, if we're going to be a Chicago and not a Detroit, these are the tools that are going to get us there," said Theresa O'Donnell, Dallas' director of development. "We can secure Dallas' economic foundation by building this plan."

If Dallas' current population trends continue, job growth will far surpass housing growth by 2030, experts say. Places of employment will be clustered near downtown and the Galleria, and most household growth will occur in North Dallas. But Dallas residents have a different vision, one that calls for more residents within the city limits and a balance of homes and jobs across the city. And they desire a varied mix of housing, including single-family homes, condominiums, town homes and apartment buildings.

"Population is the foundation of your city -- it can't be just a job center," Mr. Fregonese said. Adding 120,000 households in Dallas could increase sales tax revenue by 27 percent and double the amount of assessed value in the city of Dallas, experts say. And having more people living near their jobs would cut down on traffic and have a positive effect on air quality, Mr. Fregonese said. For John Stettler, the planners are right on target. The region's population should be concentrated within the Dallas city limits -- as a way to curb urban sprawl and heal the city's ailing tax base, he said.

"I think it's wise," said Mr. Stettler, who lives in the White Rock area and moved his business from Pleasant Grove to Royce City more than 25 years ago. "It's not such a big concern as making sure the city is safe. But economic development -- that's a big problem right now." Dallas is nearing the end of its vacant land supply, Mr. Fregonese said. To bring more residents and more tax dollars into the city, he said, not everyone can build large homes on even larger lots.

"We have to be open to different types of housing," he said. "We're moving from being reactive to proactive," council member Veletta Forsythe Lill said. But construction of new multi-family housing -- particularly affordable, tax-credit developments -- could be controversial in the southern sector, a region many people, including Mayor Laura Miller, believe has more than its share of such properties. "Has anybody talked to the mayor about this strategy?" council member Ed Oakley asked.

Dallas residents who participated in the neighborhood meetings have some big demands. They want a downtown retail core and the conversion of vacant offices into shops and housing. They want more quality housing choices, not simply for rental, but for purchase. And they want strong and vibrant communities and the planning tools to protect them. Those planning tools aren't in place yet. For years, land-use decisions in Dallas have involved creating planned development districts -- special zoning for individual projects -- as opposed to forcing them to fit into current zoning standards. As a result, the city has about 35 zoning categories, many of them unused, and more than 700 planned development districts.

"We have done a lot of zoning, but we haven't done much planning," Ms. O'Donnell said. "We need to encourage quality development and make that easy." The current zoning system is archaic, "clumsy" and prevents small investors -- many of whom don't have the time or money to lobby for a planned development district -- from getting involved, Mr. Fregonese said. Several improved zoning categories will be recommended this summer, and could be tried out in certain strategic areas in the city, he said. "So much of the 'anti' sentiment, and a lot of the idea that City Hall is broken, are people who have come down and worked through this process, and said, 'This doesn't work at all," " Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Don Hill said. "We've been silently letting ... private development companies do the planning for our city."

The city is about two-thirds of the way through its comprehensive planning process, Mr. Fregonese said. The City Council should approve the final document in December, he said, but it must be embraced citywide to have an effect. "The plan does call for some pretty dramatic changes," he said. "For this plan to be effective, it needs to be institutionalized."

PLAN'S GOALS
City planners say these priorities emerged from months of meetings citywide:

• Add 120,000 new households within the city limits by 2030.
• Maximize remaining vacant land and redevelop defunct developments with condominiums, apartments, town homes and single-family homes on smaller lots.
• Balance job growth across the city, with job centers located closer to residences.
• Increase city revenues from property taxes and sales taxes as residents choose Dallas over the suburbs.
• Improve traffic and air quality -- a result of shorter distances from home to work.