Despite assurances, Benbrook neighbors fear disaster from floodplain development
Ryan Reagan of Benbrook doesn’t necessarily consider himself an environmental crusader. He understands progress and understands why his city, a growing suburb on the western edge of Fort Worth, would want to add another residential development on wooded land. He just doesn’t get why that development should be built in a floodplain, and he’s not alone.
On July 10, Benbrook’s Planning and Zoning Commission recommended rezoning a property between Chapin Road and Veterans Parkway to accommodate a proposed 178-home community called Rowan Ranch. The Benbrook City Council will hear public comments on the rezoning on Aug. 21.
Despite questions, Rowan Ranch developer is confident
For years, the 80-acre Rowan Ranch plot has sat undeveloped, in part because Mary’s Creek, a tributary to the Clear Fork of the Trinity River, flows along its eastern edge, placing a strip of land directly in the floodway.
Corey Waldrop, who owns the property and is developing it under his company Motiv Ventures, plans to reclaim some of that floodway and the adjacent floodplain. Waldrop has vowed to do so safely and has provided engineering reports showing that his efforts would eliminate or mitigate the flood risk for more than 100 existing homes in the larger Mary’s Creek floodplain. Still, neighbors are skeptical.
Reagan owns land along Mary’s Creek, and he’s been an outspoken opponent of the Rowan Ranch development since last September, when Waldrop presented an earlier iteration of his proposal, which the Benbrook Planning and Zoning Commission denied.
Under that plan, Waldrop wanted to designate approximately 16 acres for high-density residential, 26 acres for low-density residential and 37 acres for an uninhabited floodway/greenspace, all of which fell within the city of Benbrook’s future land use guidelines.
“That was actually better than what he’s proposing now,” Reagan said, pointing to the fact that a larger portion of the floodway would have remained intact.
The proposal that was approved in July calls for 17 acres of high-density residential, 62 acres of low-density residential and an 11-acre floodway/greenspace, which is roughly half the size of the designated floodway on Benbrook’s future land use map for the site.
To improve and reclaim part of the floodway and floodplain for development, Waldrop wants to widen Mary’s Creek, reinforce embankments and add obstacles, like boulders, to the creek to slow waterflow.
Waldrop has worked with three engineering firms to conduct preliminary studies on the property. Ron Ramirez, president of one of those firms, Fort Worth-based Evolving Texas, spoke at the July 10 planning and zoning hearing.
He said the Federal Emergency Management Agencydeveloped the Mary’s Creek floodplain models in the 1980s, and that those models were no longer accurate. Ramirez said his firm commissioned new models that took into account the area’s changing topography and updated waterflow patterns, and he expressed confidence when he said steps like widening the creek would reduce the size of the area subject to flooding.
Mary’s Creek residents fear unintended consequences
Like Regan, Matthew Nave owns land on Mary’s Creek. On a hot July afternoon, he stood alongside Reagan at the creek’s edge and pointed to a bluff rising more than 20 feet high on the opposite bank. If the project moves forward to completion, Rowan Ranch would sit atop that bluff.
Nave said he’d seen the creek’s water level reach the top of the bluff during heavy rainfall, and he’s observed a good deal of erosion of the bluff’s loamy soil. He believes any efforts to remake or reclaim the Mary’s Creek floodway or its floodplain, or build on the shelf of land overlooking the creek, would be disastrous.
“I’m a hunter, I’m an outdoorsman, and it’s one of the most violent creeks I’ve ever seen,” Nave said.
Luke Telford lives downstream from Nave and Reagan. There are a line of houses and a street, Mary’s Creek Drive, between his property and the waterway. Despite that distance, Telford said he’d had floodwater come to within 20 feet of his house in the last five years. Right now, his property lies just outside the Mary’s Creek 100-year floodplain, but Telford said his mortgage lender has already warned him that he’ll likely have to purchase flood insurance if the Rowan Ranch development is built since a change to the floodplain could put his home in greater danger.
The homes across from Telford back up to Mary’s Creek. In most cases, the creek sits at the base of a hill behind each house, some 50 or so yards away. Walking through the properties, evidence of flooding is apparent: scattered debris among the brush near the creek and erosion damage to cement retaining walls and the earthen banks.
Telford said he can’t understand why the city of Benbrook isn’t considering the potential consequences of allowing a neighborhood to be built on a piece of land that has historically been set aside as a floodplain and that lies just upstream from an area known for flooding.
Wayne Young, who lives across from Telford in a home that backs up to Mary’s Creek, has shared videos on Facebook showing how rapidly the water can flow after a rainstorm:
City of Benbrook says checks and balances in place
City leaders, however, cautioned against viewing zoning approval as a rubber stamp for the developer to do what he wants with the land.
Benbrook City Planner Doug Howard said there are, generally speaking, minimal requirements for a developer to receive an approval for rezoning. It boils down to whether a developer’s plans are consistent with the city’s comprehensive vision.
Once rezoning is granted, though, the requirements to build become considerably more stringent. A developer must submit detailed engineering reports and a plat to the city for review.
“And even on top of that, it gets more restrictive when you put in the floodplain regulations,” Howard added.
Howard highlighted four main criteria for building in a reclaimed floodplain:
“The construction of streets and building pads, things like that, they have to be 2 feet above the base flood elevation. There can be no increase to the stream flow velocities. There can be no reduction in the valley’s storage volume and no adverse impacts to up- and downstream properties. ... There are other regulations involved, but those minimally have to be shown before we could even consider developing a floodplain.”
Municipalities typically won’t declare a section of the city undevelopable, even if it’s in a floodplain, Howard said. That’s called a regulatory taking. If a city did that, it would likely have to buy the land.
Both Howard and Benbrook Assistant City Manager Ethan Cox said local administrators have ramped up efforts in recent years to mitigate the flood risk in Benbrook. Those include drainage system and retaining wall upgrades and waterway and wetland improvements.
Due to those efforts, Benbrook’s score on FEMA’s Community Rating System, which evaluates a city’s floodplain management efforts, has risen from a 7 to a 6 over the past five years. The highest score a city can receive is a 1, and discounts on flood insurance are available to residents based on their town’s CRS number. Right now, Cox said, Benbrook residents are eligible for a 20% discount on flood insurance. If Benbrook raises its CRS score, additional discounts would apply. Cox said it’s typically 5% per numerical increase on the rating system.
“Moving forward, we are wrapping up an assessment of our underground stormwater pipes which may lead to additional capital maintenance, and we’re also planning drainage improvements in Dutch Branch Park over the next two to three years,” Cox said.
In the case of Rowan Ranch, the city of Fort Worth, FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will all have oversight, in addition to the city of Benbrook, to ensure floodplain development is done safely, with consideration for upstream and downstream communities and residents.
David Weekley Homes is set to construct houses in Rowan Ranch. A spokesperson for the builder previously told the Star-Telegram the firm’s contract with Waldrop stipulates that no part of the lots can be in the floodplain. Ostensibly, this means Waldrop must successfully reclaim the land from the flood zone before residential construction could proceed, at least with Weekley.
Rationale for recommending rezoning
Reagan and others have asked why the Benbrook Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approving Waldrop’s latest proposal after denying his previous one last September.
At the July 10 hearing, Commissioner Jon Craver said that while he would personally like to see more of the natural features of the Rowan Ranch property preserved, the city’s comprehensive plan only encouraged, not demanded, such preservation.
Commissioner Leah Rodriguez hinted at having some reservations about the Rowan Ranch project, and she intimated that she’d like to see any future development occur as far away from Mary’s Creek as possible. She also received assurance from Howard that the city would have a say in what could be built in the floodplain.
Commissioner Brandon Ellison said he believed the rezoning proposal did not violate the principles of the city’s comprehensive plan, and he reiterated that Rowan Ranch’s engineering plans and platting would still be subject to scrutiny if rezoning was approved.
Ultimately, the commissioners voted unanimously to recommend rezoning the property.
Benbrook residents opposed to the development viewed this as a serious blow, and some questioned how the commission could have made such a recommendation so soon after the deadly Kerr County flooding on July 4.
Ashlee Nave, Matthew Nave’s wife, has urged state lawmakers to consider legislation to prohibit construction in flood-prone areas like the Mary’s Creek floodplain. In emails to lawmakers, Nave suggested naming such legislation the “Mystic Bill” after Camp Mystic, where 27 young campers and their counselors perished during the floods in Kerr County.
Waldrop has repeatedly said he’s listening to resident feedback on the Rowan Ranch project and that he’s open to continuing dialogue. He sees his development as benefitting Benbrook, from the existing homes in the floodplain he said his engineering efforts will help to the estimated $5 million in new annual property tax revenue for the city.
For some, it doesn’t seem to matter what Waldrop says. Residents, like Luke Telford, who want the Rowan Ranch property left alone point to Waldrop’s pending legal issues related to other construction projects and say that undermines his credibility.
Ryan Regan has spent considerable time and energy rallying his neighbors to oppose the development in the hopes of convincing the Benbrook City Council to reject the planning and zoning commission’s recommendation. He and fellow resident Sean Moore have even filed to run for city council in November, saying they want Mary’s Creek residents to have more of a voice in administrative matters.
This story was originally published August 18, 2025 at 2:43 PM.