Dallas real estate agents love their pets, and many of them, like Dave Perry-Miller, Zareen Khan, Katherine Roberts, and Candy Evans, actually look like their dogs.

Last week EchoPoint Mortgage picked eight real estate agents to compete to see who looks most like their pups. They put the vote to Facebook, and determined Cassie Evans Decker’s dogs Pollyanna and Rusty resembled Cassie to-the-t.

EchoPoint then made a $1,000 donation to Metroplex Animal Coalition, a nonprofit animal welfare organization, in Cassie’s name, and at the event last week announcing the winner, Cassie showed me pictures of her and her pups. It’s uncanny. To see the resemblance, click read more.

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Next Wednesday, the Board of Adjustment will consider a fence next to one Preston Hollow home and a cabana behind another.

The folks at 6006 Azalea Lane want an exception to the rules about fence height and visual obstructions. Their house, which sits on the southeast corner of Azalea and Preston Road, already has an 8-foot-6-inch fence along Preston. That’s 4 feet, 6 inches taller than zoning allows. But the bigger sticking point, in the eyes of City Hall, is that the fence could potentially violate the “visibility triangle” for drivers turning onto Preston from the alley behind Azalea.

You’ve got to love this hand-written defense from David Fandrich’s appeal to the board:

As my property is on Preston, there are no immediate neighbors. The visibility triangle won’t affect traffic as Preston flows one-way divided by a median; furthermore, the alley is not used.

Can’t argue with that.

The other case concerns a cabana that Mark Hughston wants to build behind his house at 11575 E. Ricks Circle. This is a Board of Adjustment matter because zoning forbids more than one “dwelling unit” on a single-family property. Because the plans for this cabana include a bathroom and kitchen, it’s considered a dwelling unit. To wit:

Building Inspection staff has reviewed the submitted floor plan of the proposed “cabana” structure and deemed it a “dwelling unit” – that is per Code definition: “one or more rooms to be a single housekeeping unit to accommodate one family and containing one or more kitchens, one or more bathrooms, and one or more bedrooms.” The submitted floor plan denotes the following rooms/spaces: “family,” “bar,’ “closet,” “bedroom,” “bath,” “pool stor.,” “ and “mechanical.”

It appears that Hughston will be allowed to build a cabana complete with a bar and a bath as long as he agrees to deed restrictions that will prevent it from ever being used as a rental property.

You can see more of Kimberly Armour's house on Saturday. (Staff photo: Chris McGathey)

Kimberly Armour’s Preston Hollow house is one of 12 that will be featured in the inaugural Dallas Modern Home Tour, which is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. Pick up a copy of this week’s Preston Hollow People to learn more about her via our “Deep in the Hollow” Q&A.

David Genecov has owned 6423 Prestonshire Lane since 2006, according to county tax records. Last July, he acquired the property next door. Genecov wants to replat the properties into one lot and “remove the existing front yard building line,” according to the agenda for Thursday’s meeting of the City Plan Commission. City staff is recommending approval of the removal but denial of the replat.

The blogosphere is all a twitter with the news that Khloe Kardashian, along with her NBA player husband Lamar Odom, will soon be headed to the Big D. The Fort-Worth Star Telegram has already suggested Preston Hollow as a potential homestead for the couple.

What say you, opinionated (potential) neighbors?

I can’t speak to the impact sports has had on the commercial real estate industry, the purview of the Real Estate Council, but I know one way it has affected the residential real estate business: Preston Hollow residents Dirk Nowitzki and Shawn Marion would not have purchased their palatial homes if their professional basketball careers had not brought them to Dallas.

If the NBA lockout has you missing these two and their teammates, perhaps you’d like to attend an event hosted by the Real Estate Council tomorrow morning. Talk show host Norm Hitzges will moderate a discussion about what a big business sports is in this region. Panelists will include Mavericks general manager Donnie Nelson; Joshua Price, an assistant professor of economics at UT-Arlington; and Trey Yelverton, Arlington’s deputy city manager of neighborhood services.

The discussion will take place over breakfast beginning at 7:30 a.m. at the Belo Mansion. The cost for nonmembers is $90. For more information, contact the Real Estate Council at 214-692-3600.

Two super-modern Preston Hollow homes are stops on this year’s American Institute of Architects Dallas home tour on Saturday and Sunday. The houses, 11310 Crestbrook Dr. and 6265 Boca Raton Dr. (left), feature sleek exteriors and high-end finish-out worthy of a glossy magazine spread.

The Boca Raton home designed by Gary Olp of GGO Architects is slated for LEED-H Platinum certification, the highest rating in the system. The Crestbrook abode is a gallery of windows, acting as a sieve for tons of natural light. And that pool? Well, I just want to jump right in.

Want to see more? Head to the home tour’s website.

Maples are stunning additions to fall gardens.

Perhaps you’ve noticed a home in the Hollow that has a spectacular fall display right now? Colorful trees? Pumpkins aplenty?More mums than you can shake a stick at?

Comments are open, y’all.

In a narrow vote (7-6), the City Plan Commission approved Prestonwood Baptist Church’s proposal for a 40-foot illuminated cross in the northeast corner of its property at 12123 Hillcrest Road. Four neighbors spoke in opposition to the plan, including former commissioner Carol Scott, who gave an impassioned defense of trees and darkness.

“I can’t understand the illumination and the massive tree removal only to show off a 40-foot cross,” Scott said. “I have it on good authority that this large cross … will make a terrific traffic and accident area.”

Pastor Chris Kouba said the lighting will face the building and is “not intended” to reflect on anyone’s home. He said it will be turned off at midnight, along with the rest of the lighting already on the property.

“The trees we have already done our due diligence on,” he said. “We do have the right to remove any trees as long as it’s tied to a permit, which it is.”

Despite this disagreement, Kouba said the church’s desire is to be “good neighbors.”

“We do not think [the cross] will affect in any way our relationship with the surrounding community,” he said.

You know that shopping center on the southwest corner of Walnut Hill and Central? The one that includes Iron Stone Bank and PPG Paints? I remember struggling to figure out what its name was late last year, when Claire St. Amant was looking into a rash of robberies at the Subway there.

Well, now I know: It’s called Lakeside Village. And I know that because I received a press release yesterday trumpeting the shopping center’s sale to Retail Plazas Inc. by Henry S. Miller Companies, its owner since 1999. The release says Lakeside Village was developed by Property Company of America in 1986.

“Some of the tenants are still the original tenants in the center, like SAS Shoes and Lakeside Cleaners,” said Vaughn Miller, head of the Henry S. Miller retail division, “and that speaks volumes about the strength of the center and the market area.”

Good news for the new owners: Not one crime has been reported at the Lakeside Village Subway this year.