Fort Worth is moving forward to buy land despite the coronavirus budget crunch
An ambitious plan from the city to buy open space around Fort Worth and preserve the land in its natural state is moving forward despite a budget crunch related to the coronavirus pandemic.
The city expects to close this month on a $610,000 deal to buy the 53-acre Broadcast Hill property adjacent to the Tandy Hill Natural Area in east Fort Worth. It is the first step in a broad plan to buy open space ahead of urban sprawl, with the goal of preserving the Texas landscape while helping to mitigate flooding.
Before the coronavirus outbreak, the city’s robust growth consumed 2,800 acres of Texas prairie a year for housing divisions, strip malls and warehouses. To lessen the effect on the environment, city planners in December pitched a partnership with the Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit that advocates for public open space and helps cities develop park plans.
The deal is funded with $60,000 raised by the nonprofit Friends of the Tandy Hill Natural Area, but the rest comes from cash the city had on hand from its oil and gas trust fund.
That fund is how the city planned to pay for dozens of other yet-identified properties worth preserving. Early speculation included the Sycamore and Mary’s Creek watersheds as well as property around Lake Arlington.
But the fund has taken a nearly 15% hit due to the recession, according to a city analysis of the trust fund through March.
Even with the drop in expected oil and gas revenue, Jennifer Dyke, a stormwater manager who has led the conservation effort, said the city is moving forward. The City Council in June will vote on a contract with the Trust for Public Land.
Robert Kent, the nonprofit’s North Texas director, told the Star-Telegram in December the trust would build a website where the public can see possible zones worth protecting, weighed against how the open land would benefit public health, flood mitigation, water quality and economic development.
The contract was originally estimated at about $388,000, but Dyke said the city is looking at ways to trim the cost.
It would be paid for through the city’s general fund, which is expected to take a $40 million hit from a loss of sales tax revenue attributed to the coronavirus recession. That number could climb — in April the loss was estimated at $32 million.
Typically the Trust for Public Land would maintain the website for five years before turning it over to a municipality, but Dyke said the city can run the website itself. She anticipates city IT staff taking it over within a year, saving about $50,000 from the original cost.
Dyke also anticipates sending letters to property owners in some of the areas already identified, informing them of the city’s desire to purchase and preserve land.
“There may be someone who wants to donate property, or if they’re looking to develop it, they may consider developing differently with a connection to our future park area,” she said. “This is still a priority for the city.”
Beyond Broadcast Hill
Three other areas have already risen to the top of a short list of land worth preserving.
One is the west shore of Lake Arlington. Eugene McCray Park takes up a tiny sliver. Dyke has said acquiring a buffer along the shoreline would protect the lake from pollution, provide walking and biking trails and potentially benefit stormwater drainage from the east Fort Worth neighborhoods nearby.
Sycamore Creek runs through the central part of the city before emptying into the Trinity River. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has tasked the city with cleaning the water closest to the river because of high levels of bacteria in the water.
Linking four parks along the creek, Hallmark, Carter, Cobb and Sycamore, with creek-side trails would prevent some pollution from washing into the creek. A trail system would also connect southeast Fort Worth neighborhoods to the city center and open a large strip of public land in a part of town where the majority of residents are black or Hispanic.
On the far west side of town, parts of the Mary’s Creek watershed is also worth preserving, city officials have said. The Walsh development will be home to about 50,000 people across roughly 7,000 acres, so the city should look into buying up part of the flood plain, according to a city presentation in December. The increased development will worsen rain runoff into the creek, potentially causing flooding downstream in the Trinity River. Preserved natural land may act as a sponge for that water.
