They’re fighting city hall over townhomes. Here’s why they probably can’t win
Residents of Fort Worth’s master-planned Walsh development apparently won’t be able to stop the construction of townhomes in their neighborhood.
The City Plan Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved a plat revision for Walsh, a new community on the city’s western edge that eventually could be home to 50,000 residents, over the objection of several dozen Walsh residents who attended the commission’s meeting.
Some of the residents held paper signs that read “Vote No: Walsh area II.”
“We’re not a small group, and we’re not trying to divide this community,” resident Brent Nicewonger told the commission. He is among about 600 people who have moved into the roughly 280 homes that have already been built at Walsh.
“We’re early adapters and investors,” he said, “and we want Walsh to thrive and grow.”
Walsh’s developer, Republic Property Group of Dallas, submitted a plat revision that included construction of about 76 townhomes in the next area of development of the property, which is just west of the I-20/I-30 merge, not far from where Fort Worth meets Aledo.
The developer maintained that, even though the townhomes will share a wall, they are considered single-family homes.
But residents say the addition of townhomes to the area violates the developer’s promise not to build any multifamily housing north of Interstate 30.
Three of the nine commission members present sympathized with the homeowners, but said that they don’t have the authority to deny the plat revision because it complies with a 2003 zoning change that created the Walsh development.
“If I were in your position, I would feel exactly the same way,” said commission member Jim Tidwell. “We are constrained by state statute. If you have watched the state Legislature in the last three, four, five legislative sessions, there has been a continual erosion of local control.”
Another commission member, Vicky Schoch, asked the developer to meet with the residents to communicate about the plat revisions and address questions and concerns.
After the meeting, Seth Carpenter, Republic Property Group vice president of development, declined to say whether a neighborhood meeting would be held. Carpenter represented the developer at the meeting.
