How voting may impact construction in your area | Dallas News Live

And with the election a few days away, many of those elected officials who you will be voting for will make decisions that impact things that pop up where you live and work. Joining me live, Grant Pruitt, president and founder of White Box Real Estate. Grant, you know, a lot of people drive past construction sites, especially if it's close to your backyard. You may ask, who approved that and how does that all get approved with early voting underway? How does the local, how do local officials we elect help shape what pops up in our neighborhoods? Yeah, so local officials really come into play when you're looking at rezoning areas. If a piece of property is zoned for it, then it's going to be hard to change a lot. There are some things that you could go through. However, if it's a development that requires rezoning, the local officials, specifically the city council that is elected, is going to absolutely impact what can be zoned, what gets rezoned, and what that development looks like. And Grant, when you drive around town, you'll see those zoning signs. They may be on the light post near a busy intersection or posted somewhere. These local officials, they have to post a notice, right, so that the public can have their chance to give input? That's correct. So there's a couple nuances as to who gets the notices, but they will send out mailed notice. they will have to publish a notice, they will put the signs out, and then there will be public hearings for the public to be able to give that input and voice their concerns and opinions. And I know data centers are a big topic, especially when it starts to get close to some people's neighborhoods or their communities. Some people have not wanted them. Are local officials more cognizant of the fact that this is a big topic, so they over kind of communicate? hopefully, when the public needs to be able to give their input? I think you really see it both at the level as well as the state and even the federal level. I think that it's much greater than just a local level. There's a lot of concern about it. There's a lot of concern about the infrastructure that's required for that. And so you're gonna see that as a hot button item, really from the local area all the way through the federal area. So I wouldn't just relegate it to local areas. It does have a huge impact, though, locally. Now, something that's not just local, when we're talking about roads, traffic, infrastructure, things like that, is that more of a state thing or it depends on what you're talking about? I mean, I know, you know, everyone, you're looking at video now from the 30 was shut down this weekend because of some projects that are ongoing. When it comes to roads, is that more of a state issue? It depends. It depends on the road. It depends where it's located. And it depends on under the jurisdiction that it falls under, whether it's infrastructure, excuse me, interstates, if it's county roads, if it's city roads. Now, that being said, we're having elections that aren't going to be for city leaders, at least in Dallas County. That's going to be on odd years. So that will be in November of 2027. This is going to be affecting the state level. That does impact us, though. and this is where I say it depends, because there's items like State Bill 840 that changed the way that was rezoned for multifamily. So let's say you weren't zoned for multifamily, you don't have to go and get it rezoned. It's not gonna go to city council. It may not have a public comment because the state legislature passed laws that allowed us the opportunity to avoid that. So it really is important that people take elections seriously at the federal, the state, as well as the local level, because they all play into the greater fabric. From your ears to, man, I hope people really listen to what you just said. Every election matters, not just the big ones. The local ones impact your life more than you think, Grant Pruitt. Thank you so much for your time. We'll talk to you later.