As Fort Worth’s Near Southside booms, this street has become a battleground over growth
The success of Fort Worth’s Near Southside has property owners on Hemphill Street, the main drag that leads out of the booming district and into the heart of the city’s south side, nervous about what future growth might look like.
Concerned about investors expanding the Near Southside down Hemphill with developments that don’t fit the street’s historic character and wanting to make the strip more walkable, a group of neighborhoods and the city last year proposed a zoning change meant to guide future building. But some residents say they were left out of the process and the proposal would push out a largely Hispanic population.
Regardless of position, it’s clear both sides want the same thing — a vibrant locally owned business community along Hemphill.
The task force developed the new zoning with the city. Richard Riccetti, chairman of the Hemphill Corridor Task Force, said poor communication may have led to diverging interpretations of what zoning changes will accomplish.
“It gives everyone guidelines for any future development that could be there to protect the neighborhoods,” he said.
The Star-Telegram first reported the zoning changes in May when the city began eliminating lanes on Hemphill to slow traffic and make the street pedestrian friendly. Growth in the Near Southside threatens to creep down Hemphill. Before 2017, the Near Southside had 1,088 apartment, condo or townhouse units. Since then, nearly 3,000 units have been built or are under development, making way for nearly 4,500 new residents, according to data provided to the Star-Telegram in October.
Fort Worth’s zoning commission was set to approve the changes in December, with a City Council vote following later. But dozens of people spoke against the zoning, prompting the city to pull back. A series of public meetings, some in Spanish, are in the works through at least March, when the zoning case may be resubmitted.
“This is our opportunity as first generation immigrants,” Ricardo Avitia said, referring to the Hispanic neighborhoods along Hemphill. Avitia and his brother, Rudy, formed Hemphill No Se Vende (Hemphill is Not for Sale), a grassroots effort to call attention to the zoning change, which they worry will displace Hispanic residents in favor of lucrative development. “This is prime real estate, and we know it.”
Regardless of what happens with the Hemphill corridor, Councilwoman Ann Zadeh said the city needs to improve how it communicates with residents. Many residents may have been confused by the Hemphill changes because zoning language is complicated, she said, but it also was not provided in Spanish until late in the process.
“If you make people take an extra step to engage, the likelihood that they’re going to drop off and not engage is greater,” said Zadeh, who is running for mayor. “So I think we should remove all barriers so the city is as welcoming as possible.”
Hemphill No Se Vende
Ricardo and Rudy Avitia said they were shocked to learn about the zoning plan late last year. To them, the rezoning feels like an effort to open their predominantly Hispanic neighborhood to outside developers looking to turn Hemphill into the next Magnolia Avenue.
Though the Hemphill Corridor Task Force started holding public meetings on the zoning in early 2020, the brothers said they first learned of it through a city notification that arrived in the mail ahead of the December zoning board meeting. A canvass of neighbors revealed more than half also didn’t know, Ricardo Avitia said.
“The bottom line is we were not notified,” he said. He added later: “It has nothing to do with what’s going to happen after the fact. It’s that the people who are doing this are not taking us into consideration, are not bringing us to the table. They’re making decisions for the majority of us, but they don’t reflect who we are.”
The Avitias grew up east of Hemphill in an area that became popular with first and second generation Hispanic immigrants. Now both live in roughly the same area a few blocks apart on Jennings Avenue in the Jennings-May-St. Louis neighborhood, a small section of homes between Hemphill and the railroad tracks to the east.
The brothers are skeptical the zoning will help them, they said. Rudy Avitia cut hair for about a decade at a shop on Magnolia before relocating to Hemphill when rent soared. He now owns The Barber at 3015 Hemphill St. He fears the same thing will happen on Hemphill if the zoning is approved.
The south side was meant to be a place where working class families could accomplish the American dream of home ownership and security for their families, Ricardo Avitia said. Since the zoning would allow a mix of commercial and apartments along Hemphill, he worries developers will push out homeowners and throw up large apartment complexes.
“If you displace us we lose who we are,” he said.
Hemphill zoning
The properties in question are those facing Hemphill from Allen Avenue to Felix Street, a little more than a three-mile strip that forms the eastern border of several historic Fort Worth neighborhoods, including Fairmount, Ryan Place, South Hemphill Heights and Rosemont.
Properties along the street are zoned for a variety of single uses including residential, commercial and industrial. The zoning proposal would allow a mix of uses on each property with the goal of creating more residential options on Hemphill and growing the number of businesses, said Laura Voltmann, a senior city planner.
The zoning change would not impact single-family homes that are not facing Hemphill. Property owners are not required to sell or change their property because of the rezoning. It is meant to provide a guide for future building that respects Hemphill’s historic character, she said.
As the zoning exists today, developers could build anything they want along Hemphill, including low-density strip malls that Riccetti said the task force wants to avoid, or multi-story buildings where office or apartment windows look down into single-family homes.
The new zoning would prevent that, Voltmann said. Building heights are restricted to 35 feet, or three stories. Buildings that reach that height cannot abut a single-family property and must transition to a shorter height to protect views from the homes. Developers would have to follow design standards.
The zoning changes, along with eliminating two lanes from Hemphill, improving sidewalks, and adding bike lanes and parking spots, are meant to improve the area’s walkability.
It is unlikely builders would throw up giant, big box apartment complexes that have come to dominate the Near Southside and other districts. Lots facing Hemphill are not large enough for those complexes and the zoning change would not allow such density to encroach into neighborhoods on either side of Hemphill, she said.
While property values may increase, Voltmann said, the city does not believe they will rise at the same level as the popular Fairmount neighborhood or trendy Magnolia Avenue. Fairmount’s historic designation makes it popular and requires builders adhere to historic architecture, which inflates property values.
A previous iteration for the zoning labeled it as “Near Southside General Urban,” which helped spark concerns that the zoning change would bring unwanted development. Voltmann said that name will change as the city continues to engage the neighborhoods
“We just want to be able to talk to people and want to explain that it’s not going back into their neighborhoods,” Voltmann said. “Their neighborhoods are intact and will stay that way.”
More Hemphill engagement
Fernando Peralta said he fully understands the Avitias concerns, and he welcomes extra time to engage Hemphill-area residents. As president of Las Familias de Rosemont, the largest Hispanic neighborhood association on the south side, Peralta is a member of the Hemphill Corridor Task Force. Recently he said he has felt “like the referee, almost” between the task force and residents, many of whom are Hispanic.
“There is a fear, but it’s the fear of the unknown,” said Peralta, who is running for the District 9 council seat.
Peralta said the city had been “reactive instead of proactive” in communicating with neighborhoods, noting that much of the communication breakdown was due to a lack of Spanish resources. Even then, he said, residents need to be engaged with neighborhood associations and advocacy like the Avitias’ Hemphill No Se Vende canvassing was helping get people involved.
Peralta said he thinks the rezoning can benefit Hispanic business owners, but it must be clear.
“One of the biggest things that I’ve told people, you know, on the task force and everywhere is that yes, the Hispanic community is here because of the culture that’s created by the Hispanic businesses,” Peralta said. “Obviously if we push Hispanic businesses out of this area, then we push the culture out. So, yeah, I think we need to be specific in the zoning on how we are going to support our local businesses, especially our Hispanic businesses.”
Riccetti admitted the task force had missed pockets of the south side, but said it was simply poor communication, not a nefarious effort to oust long time residents or business owners.
The task force had difficulty notifying individual property owners, he said. For the most part it relied on members of the eight neighborhood associations involved to get the word out, along with a Facebook page. But some property owners may not belong or may not pay attention to their association. Jennings-May-St. Louis, for instance, had a neighborhood association that disbanded. Riccetti said that made it difficult to contact residents. The Avitias are hoping to rebuild the neighborhood association, they said.
Rather than drive homeowners away, Riccetti said the zoning guidelines would protect single-family homes from encroachment by Hemphill-facing buildings. Allowing a blend of residential and commercial along the street would increase affordable housing and encourage people to live and work in the area.
“Whether you’re opposed to the zoning or for the zoning, everyone’s goals for the Hemphill corridor are pretty much the exact same,” Riccetti said. “We want a vibrant commercial street. We want strong neighborhoods.”
Neighborhood meetings
A series of neighborhood meetings are planned through February:
▪ Jan. 26 - South Hemphill Heights NA meeting
▪Jan. 28 - 5:30 p.m. - Hemphill Corridor Task Force meeting via Zoom
▪Feb. 2 6-7:30 p.m. - community presentation and discussion via Zoom
▪ Feb. 6 2-3:30 p.m. - community presentation and discussion via Zoom
▪ Feb. 7 2-3:30 p.m. - community presentation and discussion via Zoom (Spanish)
▪ Feb. 9 6-7:30 p.m. - community presentation and discussion via Zoom
▪ Feb. 13 12 p.m. - Rosemont Park or Victory Forest Community Center (In person outside in English and Spanish)
▪ Feb. 18 5:30 p.m. - task force zoning meeting via Zoom
▪ Feb. 25 5:30 p.m. - task force regular meeting via Zoom
Those wanting more information or access to the Zoom meetings should call 817-392-8000
