Filtering White Rock Lake water

KEEP IT CLEAN

A short history of the Filter Building

Story by RENEE UMSTED | Photography by SHELBY TAUBER

IT WAS APRIL 1914. White Rock Lake was filled with 6 billion gallons of water, and the pump station was providing water to nearby residents.

No filtration plant existed at the lake, but the water was treated at a plant in Turtle Creek.

In 1915, Dr. W.R. Blaylock wrote a letter to The Dallas Morning News, warning that the lake could become a petri dish for typhoid and other germs if recreational activities were allowed there.

Water Commissioner A.C. Cason suggested that residents should boil water because it could “become foul at any time,” even though it was being filtered by the Turtle Creek plant.

An analysis in 1916 revealed the White Rock water, which was treated with chlorine, was free of disease-causing bacteria. But the state sanitation engineer,

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V.M. Ehlers, recommended that a filtration plant be constructed by the lake. The lake’s watershed included land inhabited by thousands of people, whom Ehlers described as “renters who cannot be expected to keep their premises in a sanitary condition,” in addition to the farms, cemeteries, railroads and highways nearby.

By February 1917, the lake water was still considered sterile because of the chlorine, but it had a bad odor. Months later, the City Health Board ruled that the water was “unfit for domestic use.”

Three years later, typhoid fever broke out in Dallas, and White Rock Lake water was determined to be one of the causes. The pump station had broken down, and water was introduced into the main supply without being filtered, just treated with chlorine.

The City asked engineer David Morey to investigate the water supply, and he recommended that aeration, sedimentation, filtration through rapid sand filters and chlorination be implemented. An engineering professor at the University of Texas agreed.

So in 1921, construction of a filtration plant at White Rock began. Morey undertook the design with help from three engineers. Plans called for a castle-like building made of the same red brick that distinguished the nearby pump station.

It would have a low-lift pumping station and aerator, a mixing channel, two sedimentation basins, a coagulation basin, 12 rapid filters, a filtered-water reservoir and a wash water tank. Dallas-based Hughes-O’Rourke Construction Co. built the facility, which cost $381,000.

HERE’S HOW THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS DESCRIBED THE FILTRATION PROCESS IN 1923:

“The ‘raw’ water is brought into a small concrete tank, where it picks up a specific quantity of hydrated lime and alum, or compound of iron. It is then run into the 6,000,000-gallon sediment basins, where the lime and alum or iron settles, taking the impurities with them. The water is clear at this stage of almost all impurities. From the sediment basin it is run into the filter tanks, where it seeps through layers of sand and gravel into the pipes that carry it to the clear-water basin, from which it is forced into the city mains.”

White Rock Lake’s status as a water source ended with the completion of Lake Dallas in Denton County in 1930.

The Filter Building wasn’t torn down, even though it wasn’t being used anymore. Woodrow Wilson students used to sneak into the basement and graffiti it.

In 2008, White Rock Boathouse, Inc. renovated the building into an event venue.

Source: “From Water Supply to ‘Urban Oasis’: A History of White rock Lake Park, Dallas, Texas’” (2022) by Steven R. Butler

A LOOK AT RENTAL PRICES

The average rent of a studio apartment is $1,498

Story by CHRISTINA HUGHES BABB

NEW DATA SHOWS DALLAS HAS BEEN HIT HARD WITH RENT INCREASES this past year — we’re talking a 42% increase for two-bedroom apartments and a 47% increase for a three bedroom.

That said, suburban rentals have shot up even more aggressively, and, when you drill a bit more into the data, some of the neighborhoods covered by the Advocate — Lake Highlands, East Dallas, North Oak Cliff, for example — have quite competitive rent prices.

Here are the numbers for Dallas overall:

The average rent for a unit in the City of Dallas is between $1,498 and $2,328 in 2022. For a studio apartment in Dallas, the average rent is $1,498; onebedroom apartments in Dallas average $1,583; two-bedroom apartments average $2,069 and a three-bedroom unit in Dallas averages $2,328.

In Lake Highlands, the average is $1,339, which is up 67% year over year. In East Dallas, the average rent is $1,333, which is a 3% annual increase; Lakewood is $1,250 (if you find a place to rent there); North Oak Cliff rentals average $1,015, a 2% year over year increase. (With many new apartments under construction, expect that to increase in the coming years.)

The average rent in Vickery Meadow, which falls between Lake Highlands and East Dallas, is $695, affordable, yet that comes with some problems. Public radio station KERA has an ongoing series about tenants’ struggles.

Neighboring cities’ rents are typically higher than Dallas — rents increased 73% in Richardson and 75% in Addison.

Bridging the gap

Juliette Fowler’s new housing development

Story by RENEE UMSTED | Photography by CORRIE AUNE

Natural light pours into the two-story lobby through windows. Decorative walls divide the large common space, where there are tables and a café. Further into the building, there’s a fitness room and activity center. The outdoor courtyards are set up for community garden space and grills.

This is the plan for the newest build at Juliette Fowler Communities. Named The Peak at Fowler, it is a $24 million, 144unit, three-story residential structure. It’s about 50% completed, and the first residents are expected to move in by October, says Nicole Gann, the CEO of Juliette Fowler Communities.

Since the project was announced, about 200 people have signed up for Fowler’s interest list. The community can’t start accepting applications until 90 days before the first move-in, and applications will be handled on a first-come, first-served basis.

But not just anyone can live here. The development is available only to people age 62 and older who have a low-tomedium income.

“The last thing we want is for people living in an affordable product to ever feel like it’s significantly different, so we work really hard to blend the aesthetics across our campus,” Gann says.

The Peak is being constructed on the last piece of vacant land on campus. Fowler received $13 million through the low-income housing tax credit program to fund the project, and the organization will need to meet requirements set by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to have tax credits.

Residents are eligible to live at The Peak if they make no more than 60% of the area median income (AMI). As of May, 60% AMI is about $40,920 for a one-person household. The Dallas Area Median Income for fiscal year 2022 is $97,400

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for a household of four.

A certain number of units will be designated for residents in three income categories: 15 for individuals who make no more than $20,460 (30% AMI); 58 for residents who make more than 30% AMI up to $34,100 (50% AMI); and 71 for those who make more than 50% AMI up to $40,920 (60% AMI).

Rents vary based on unit floor plan and income and are determined by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. A person who makes up to 30% AMI would pay about $550 for a one-bedroom. An individual making up to 50% AMI would pay about $910 for a onebedroom, and someone making up to 60% AMI would pay about $1,100.

There’s no sliding scale on rent rates. For example, if a person made even $1 more than the 30% AMI threshold, the person would pay the same rent as someone who made $33,099, $1 less than the 50% AMI threshold.

None of these are market-rate rents. The average rent of a one-bedroom apartment in Dallas is about $1,583, according to rent.com.

“One of the reasons why we got into this space is because we had such a long waitlist to get into our affordable properties, but the income level is so low,” Gann says.

The affordable properties she’s referring to are called Fowler Christian Apartments, and the average income for residents is about $13,000, she says.

In addition to supplementing Fowler’s supply of housing for low-income seniors, The Peak will be an option for individuals who aren’t eligible to live in places like Fowler Christian Apartments and can’t afford market-rate rents.

By 2029, there will be about 14.4 million seniors in the United States who fall in the “middle market” with an income between about $24,000 and $95,000, according to a 2019 study by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, funded by the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing and Care. The upper limit, $95,000, may seem like a high income, but medical care and housing can be expensive for seniors.

The term “affordable housing” turns some people off, based

Nicole Gann, the CEO of Juliette Fowler Communities.

on misconceptions about the people who live there, Gann says. But many of the residents who will call The Peak home are likely retired social workers, teachers or government workers, she adds.

While Fowler has received complaints from neighbors during the construction process, Gann says she hasn’t heard any pushback regarding the affordable housing component.

“East Dallas to me feels like the little Austin of Dallas because it’s a little quirky in all the good ways,” Gann says. “I just think the vibe is more suited to be accepting for this type of housing.”