The Dallas City Council unanimously approved plans for a Sprouts Farmers Market at Fort Worth Avenue and Hampton Road in North Oak Cliff after changes were made to plans that were opposed last year for not being pedestrian friendly.

The addition of Sprouts Farmers Market follows last week’s announcement that Target plans to build a store in Wynnewood Village giving Oak Cliff residents more grocery stores.

Councilman Chad West said Wednesday that his office surveyed three neighborhood groups around the site — Stevens Park Estates, Steven Park Village and the Fort Worth Development Group — to determine which concessions from the developer they prioritized to allow the zoning change.

“The survey results indicated that neighbors overwhelmingly wanted a grocery store on this site, but also wanted environmental and walkability,” West said.

About 89% of the 1,480 neighbors who live within three miles said they wanted a grocery store on site but didn’t want to “give the farm away” to developers, West said.

Existing buildings don’t meet the Planning Commission’s zoning requirements to avoid a suburban zoning that puts parking lots at the front of a site, West said, but the proposed plans add a restaurant along Fort Worth Avenue and a lawn that meets the intent of walkability. the zoning. The grocery store can’t go on to the street because of grading and height challenges, he said.

Other changes made include improved landscaping, trees, stormwater drainage bioswales and permeable pavement, West said. Shopping trolleys are required to have anti-theft wheel locks. There had been a problem with shopping carts being dumped in random places around the neighborhood in the past.

Parking lot lighting and any drive-through speakers must be oriented away from nearby homes.

The store has been in the works for two years, and the grocer’s developer first submitted a zoning request to the city in August 2021.

The location is on the northeast corner of North Hampton Road and Fort Worth Avenue and is now occupied by Crown Buffet Chinese Restaurant and an Elrod’s Cost Plus market.

Sprout’s chief strategy officer David McGlinchey said in November that the Phoenix-based retailer was ready to move forward once the developer’s plans were approved. He said the store would open in 2024.

Sprouts has been actively building in the Dallas-Fort Worth market and last month opened its 27th local store at 17795 Dallas Parkway in North Dallas in the Trinity Mills neighborhood.

Last year, Sprouts opened another store within the Dallas city limits at the northeast corner of Mockingbird Lane and Abrams Road. Two other stores opened in 2022 in Grand Prairie and Irving.

Twitter: @MariaHalkias

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