This $610,000 land grab will expand natural prairie in the heart of Fort Worth
The historic Broadcast Hill in east Fort Worth will be preserved and combined with the nearby Tandy Hill Natural, pushing forward a city plan to buy open space ahead of urban sprawl.
The city’s robust growth consumes 2,800 acres of Texas prairie a year for housing divisions, strip malls and warehouses. To lessen the effect on the environment, city planners in December pitched a partnership with the Trust for Public Lands, a nonprofit that advocates for public open space and helps cities develop park plans.
On Tuesday, the City Council will vote on purchasing the 53 acre track for $610,000. The nonprofit Friends of the Tandy Hill Natural Area raised $60,000 for the purchase, and the city will use revenue from its oil and gas fund. If approved, the combined Tandy Hill/Broadcast Hill property would create a preserve of Texas prairie in the heart of Fort Worth.
The hill was formerly home to KXAS/Channel 5.
The purchase is the first step an longterm plan to identify high priority property still in a relatively natural state that’s worth preserving.
To help in that process, the council will vote March 17 on a $388,000 contract with the Trust for Public Land. Robert Kent, the nonprofit’s North Texas director, told the Star-Telegram in December the trust would build a website where the public can see possible zones worth protecting, weighed against how the open land would benefit public health, mitigate flooding, improve water quality and spur economic development.
In December, council members largely greeted the idea with excitement.
Beyond Broadcast Hill
Three other areas have already risen to the top of a short list of land worth preserving.
One is the west shore of Lake Arlington. Eugene McCray Park takes up a tiny sliver. Jennifer Dyke, a stormwater manager who has led the conservation effort, said acquiring a buffer along the shoreline would protect the lake from pollution, provide walking and biking trails and potentially benefit stormwater drainage from the east Fort Worth neighborhoods nearby.
Sycamore Creek runs through the central part of the city before emptying into the Trinity River. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has tasked the city with cleaning the water closest to the river because of high levels of bacteria in the water.
Linking four parks along the creek, Hallmark, Carter, Cobb and Sycamore, with creek-side trails would prevent some pollution from washing into the creek. A trail system would also connect southeast Fort Worth neighborhoods to the city center and open up a large strip of public land in a part of town where the majority of residents are black or Hispanic.
On the far west side of town, parts of the Mary’s Creek watershed is also worth preserving. The Walsh development will be home to about 50,000 people across roughly 7,000 acres, so the city should look into buying up part of the flood plain. The increased development will worsen rain runoff into the creek, potentially causing flooding downstream in the Trinity River. Preserved natural land may act as a sponge for that water.
This story was originally published February 28, 2020 at 4:46 PM.
