Will Fort Worth slow growth north of Loop 820? Council denies rezoning, citing traffic
With mounting concern about how the city has handled its flourishing growth, the Fort Worth City Council on Tuesday night denied a developer’s request to build more homes north of Loop 820, siding with a vocal group of residents who say traffic has become unmanageable in the city’s northern suburbs.
The developer, Hanover Property Company, wanted to change the zoning to allow more homes on smaller lots along with an apartment complex on roughly 325 acres at Bonds Ranch and Willow Springs roads. The change would eliminate possible commercial development.
Though city staff recommended the plan and the zoning commission quickly approved the measure in December, the council unanimously denied the change to a thunderous round of applause and a standing ovation from a nearly standing room-only crowd.
Dense housing is too much for narrow Bonds Ranch and Willow Springs roads, said Sherry Huckaby, who pleaded with the city council Tuesday to deny the rezoning and slow development in far north Fort Worth. As she spoke she showed several pictures of bumper-to-bumper traffic on Bonds Ranch Road and U.S. 287 during various times of day.
“You have trapped us in our own neighborhood,” she said, criticizing the city’s slow response to worsening congestion north of Loop 820.
A spokesman for Hanover Property Company said neighbors should not be concerned about congestion because a Hanover-sponsored traffic study showed significantly less traffic compared to the current zoning.
The Star-Telegram last week highlighted concerns like Huckaby’s that Fort Worth’s streets north of Loop 820 are increasingly trailing behind development.
Councilman Dennis Shingleton, who represents the area, said those concerns would not fall on deaf ears. He has said growth north of the loop is the biggest challenge his district faces, calling it “a pain in the ass.” While Hanover and other developers had often been good partners in growing the city and there is a need for new housing, Shingleton said it was time to pause unchecked growth.
“We’re throwing too darn many cars on the street,” Shingleton said. “You deserve better than that.”
Fort Worth has 24 street projects either under construction or in planning that are designed to improve commutes north of the loop. They total more than $186 million and will run through September 2023, according to city data. Most are funded through the 2018 bond election, and more projects may be coming if voters approve another bond package in 2022, city staff has said.
One of those projects will widen roads just north of the Hanover development.
Slated to finish this summer, the city will build a four-lane boulevard on Blue Mound Road to Willow Springs Road and one on Willow Springs Road to Eagle Boulevard with a roundabout at the intersection of Blue Mound and Willow Springs.
Rusty Fuller, president of the North Fort Worth Alliance, told the Star-Telegram before the meeting that he believed it was time for the city, particularly the zoning commission, to rethink developers’ requests for zoning changes. The commission seems to rubber stamp changes without much thought, he said, adding that what applies in other parts of the city may not fit in booming far north Fort Worth.
“They can’t shrug this off with the old ‘roofs come before roads,’” he said. “That’s OK until the roads never come.”
Ben Luedtke, a Hanover representative, cited a traffic study the developer conducted that showed the denser housing produced about 75% as many vehicle trips as the current mixed zoning would. Residential trips are usually limited to the morning and evening, he previously told the zoning commission, where as storefronts would lure more drivers into the neighborhood throughout the day than an apartment or home.
The area likely couldn’t be developed commercially, Luedtke told the council, because that portion of the lot is encumbered by large power lines and other utilities
The vacant area in question offers one of the only areas for small, neighborhood commercial development west of U.S. 287 in that area. Speakers said they envision the area becoming a CVS or similar store with possibly a small cafe. They argued utilities could be moved.
“You’re taking away the only chance to have a walkable, bikeable neighborhood there,” Fuller said.
This story was originally published January 15, 2020 at 5:45 AM.
