Arlington approves townhome development near gas well site
The Arlington City Council has approved a request to rezone land for a townhome development on the southeast side of the city — adjacent to a gas drilling site and an electrical substation.
Taylor Morrison Inc., an Arizona-based national home developer, requested approval to rezone a roughly 29-acre site at 1120 Debbie Lane and 8380 Glenn Day Drive to a planned development for medium residential density and community commercial uses, with a plan to build 170 townhomes and two restaurants. The development would be called Yardly Loretta Day.
The Glenn Day Drive address is adjacent to a gas well drilling site — called the Day Drill Site — that was originally approved in 2006. There are seven wells on the site, drilled between 2006 and 2008.
In April, the City Council approved a request from the operator of the well — Total E&P Barnett USA LLC, a subsidiary of the international oil company Total Energy — to draw a new well zone and drill three well sites slightly farther away from nearby homes than the 600-foot “protected use” requirement for drilling zones in Arlington. The existing wells would be grandfathered in.
Portions of the townhome development — including three units next to a swimming pool and what the developer describes as an “amenity area” — would be built roughly 300 feet from the Day Site drill zone. This is possible because of a rule that allows new residential developments to be built closer to existing drill zones.
Zoning commissioners asked developers to remove those three units — in part because they are too isolated from the rest of the neighborhood — but in a meeting with Arlington city staff, the developer said that they cannot remove the units from the plan because their location next to that amenity area makes them more valuable.
City staff also expressed concerns that the townhomes may not fit the overall housing needs of southeast Arlington.
“The proposed “build-to-rent townhome” housing type may be reaching a saturation point along Debbie Lane,” a staff report submitted to the council reads, noting that the townhomes are all two-story buildings, which may not be desirable for seniors.
Although the developers were asked to submit revised paperwork, with several recommendations from the zoning commission, the City Council ultimately approved the project May 5 with the requirement that developers must submit updated plans before the second reading of the ordinance at the City Council meeting in June.
Multiple residents spoke against the development at the May 5 meeting, including Ranjana Bhandari, the founder and executive director of the environmental advocacy group Livable Arlington that has been vocal about fracking in the city. Bhandari expressed concerns about the gas well’s potential health risks on nearby residents.
“The medical evidence makes this close distance dangerous,” Bhandari said. “Texas A&M researchers have found elevated risks of birth defects in the four core counties of the Barnett Shale region compared to the overall statewide risk for the state of Texas.”
Dixon Holman, an Arlington realtor and a former council member who has worked as a consultant on the development, told council members that the proximity of the development to the gas well was “like standing at AT&T stadium at one goal line, and it’s at the other goal line.”
Before the council approved the proposal, Arlington Mayor Jim Ross said that it was not accurate to accuse the council of not caring about the health of residents.
“I spent over a decade of my life prosecuting environmental cases,” Ross said. “I am offended by anybody that tells me I do not appreciate hazards associated [with] various types of environmental exposures.”
The next reading of the ordinance for the development, which is expected to include a site plan, will be on June 9.
This story was originally published May 8, 2026 at 11:59 AM.
