Ten-bedroom structure near TCU renews concerns over stealth dorms

Three years ago when Becky and Matthew Fetty were house-hunting, they searched for a neighborhood that offered some vibrancy and history, a place where they could walk to shops and restaurants.

They found that on Rogers Avenue in University West, just north of Texas Christian University, where they’re not far from the Trinity River and they can walk to college sporting events.

The Fettys bought their home at 2550 Rogers Ave. in October 2014. Now they find themselves staring at a two-story residence under construction nearby that eventually will house 10 TCU students. With 10 cars.

Certainly not what they had planned for.

“We understood this to be a single-family, established neighborhood with sidewalks and charming homes,” Becky Fetty said. “We did not understand it would become a target for stealth dorms.”

The couple bought their home just as a debate was raging over stealth dorms near TCU that resulted in tighter zoning restrictions in some neighborhoods near campus.

But residents living in the 2500 blocks of Rogers and Wabash avenues, between Park Hill and McPherson, are learning they weren’t as protected as they thought.

The two blocks are the closest to the campus without the full overlay protection provided by the zoning changes. They remain zoned “B,” which allows for two-family structures and small multifamily complexes, as they have been since the 1940s, the city said.

At the time of the overlay debate, residents on the two streets didn’t favor signing petitions to rezone their properties to “A-5,” or one-family, single-family uses, which would have afforded greater protections. The TCU Residential Overlay was adopted in December 2014.

Now, a 10-bedroom structure is being built at 2537 Rogers Ave. that some neighbors say is completely unreasonable. A 4,500-square-foot structure is replacing a quaint, 1,300-square-foot house. Concrete now covers the property where grass once grew, they said.

In response, Fetty and Brad Schneider, who also lives on Rogers Avenue, a couple months ago petitioned the city for a rezoning of the two blocks to prevent any more large structures going up. They gathered the necessary signatures from more than 51 percent of the property owners to have the case heard.

The property at 2537 Rogers Ave. was bought in August 2016 by Campus Solutions Development Group III Llc., an entity owned by Chris Powers, CEO of Fort Capital, a real estate development firm currently working in The River District off White Settlement Road, and Jacob Proctor, who lives on Stadium Drive next to TCU, according to state and county records.

Proctor said Monday that while he and Powers are investors in the project, most of the money for the development has come from a Houston-based group that he declined to identify.

Proctor said he became involved to make sure the residence was built with some sensitivity to the stealth dorm issue and to have some quality control, insisting the Houston investors spend $20,000 more to improve the structure’s exterior appearance.

Proctor said he has pledged to sign the neighborhood petition seeking the rezoning.

“They were going to do the project regardless,” Proctor said. “I certainly understand the concerns. There are problems with the overlay. Properties are going to be developed.”

Last Wednesday, commissioners heard the Fettys’ and Schneider’s plea, but then voted to continue the case until June. Commissioners told them they wanted them to get about 20 more signatures to the 38 they already had. Fetty said Monday they’ve picked up a few more.

Schneider said he is hopeful they’ll get the needed signatures.

“We didn’t have support until the stealth dorm showed up,” Schneider said. “They didn’t understand the impact. Now we have this big issue. The whole purpose of the overlay was to stop this.”

This story was originally published May 15, 2017 at 3:43 PM with the headline "Ten-bedroom structure near TCU renews concerns over stealth dorms."