Fort Worth City Council approves FedEx parking permit opposed by residents
The Fort Worth City Council voted on Tuesday to approve a conditional use permit for the parking of semi-trucks and trailers by FedEx in Southeast Fort Worth despite community opposition.
Councilwoman Jeanette Martinez, who represents the district the permit pertains to, approved the permit on 4700 Martin St. for a maximum of two years.
Martinez said she hopes police will monitor and hold drivers of commercial vehicles accountable for driving through residential areas, washing vehicles or performing maintenance on others’ property.
Councilwoman Deborah Peoples was the only council member who denied the motion.
Martinez’s approval of the permit came amid shouts, screams, and disapproval from the crowd. Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker threatened one member of the audience to be removed from the chamber.
Martinez praised an air monitoring system called SharedAirDFW out of the University of Texas at Dallas which the city hopes will gather meteorological data at places such as W.M. Green Elementary School. The city still is working on a agreement between all parties to facilitate a deal.
Fort Worth has designated Echo Heights and surrounding areas as an Industrial Growth Center through the Comprehensive Plan & Future Land Use plan that the city developed in 2000. Over the last few years the city and community members have clashed over efforts to reduce the amount of pollution in the neighborhoods.
Caleb Roberts, executive director of Downwinders at Risk, a clean air and environmental justice group, said his organization helped support the fundraising and development of SharedAirDFW but maintain the program is for educational purposes to get people interested in their work and where to de-industralize. Roberts says the air monitoring is not a solution, rezoning is, and the city is working backwards in helping residents de-industralize their community.
“I think the reaction is that Council still doesn’t understand the main problem,” Roberts said. “The main problem is the land use, and the zoning says that this should be heavy industry. And no matter what we do to fight that and say that this is impacting our health, they just look at the paper and go, ‘Well, this is heavy industry, so we got to keep it that way.’”
FedEx applied for a conditional use permit to allow parking of semi-trucks and trailers on a 9-acre lot near Loop 820.
A May Zoning Commission meeting showed FedEx previously had a special exception that allowed it to park semi-trucks and trailers, but that exception expired in March 2020. The reason was due to “oversight” by FedEx, which didn’t realize the lapse because it’s a “huge corporate entity,” according to Sean Tate, a lawyer representing FedEx who attended Tuesday’s meeting. When the company learned about the lapse it from city officials, it immediately worked to rectify the problem, Tate said.
Tate said there would be no operational changes or expanded use at the FedEx hub and that it will continue to be used as a storage facility. He added there would be new landscaping and a wood screen fence to replace the chain-link fence and will work to address concerns on vehicle cleaning and routine maintenance activities. FedEx has updated truck-route protocols to include new route maps to help keep trucks off residential streets, according to Tate.
Tate said FedEx will work with local neighborhood associations, to help fund the purchase and maintenance of a air quality monitor, implement new signs to deter truck traffic and create a formal complaint process for truck route violations.
“FedEx strives to be a good neighbor in all of the communities where we live and work. This renewal will allow us to continue our standard of service in Fort Worth and surrounding areas,” FedEx said in a statement to the Star Telegram.
Anita Bryson, president of Echo Heights Neighborhood Association, spoke to the council on how the property is a direct threat to their community’s safety and character. The trucks damage streets, diesel idling and exhaust pollute the air, and they don’t believe FedEx will act in good faith after not having had a permit for five years, Bryson said.
“This is about the health of our families and the safety of our children,” Bryson added.
This story was originally published June 24, 2025 at 6:33 PM.
