Fort Worth City Council delays proposed housing development near downtown
The Fort Worth City Council delayed voting Tuesday on a rezoning in Linwood that would allow developers to build dense housing in the neighborhood near downtown.
The one-week delay came after the property owner voiced concern that Mayor Betsy Price would be absent for the vote as she attended a press conference with Gov. Greg Abbott. In June, a similar effort to rezone part of the 2700 block of Azelea Avenue to make way for affordable housing failed to receive the needed super majority after Price couldn’t vote and two other councilmen voted against.
At issue is a strip of partially vacant land on Azelea Avenue across Carroll Street from the Montgomery Plaza Target. The rest, about three quarters of an acre, contains four small single-family homes.
Developers Saigebrook Development and O-SDA Industries pitched 80 apartments on the site, built above a parking garage. At least 10% of those units would be for households making at or below 30% of the median household income. The City Council approved a resolution in February supporting the developers’ application for a 9% state housing tax credit. The developers have until the end of the month to receive the zoning needed for their project or they’ll forfeit the tax credit.
City planning staff have recommended the project, saying the denser urban housing follows the long-term plan for Linwood and similar neighborhoods.
But neighbors worry high-density housing will clog narrow Linwood streets and are critical of the city for not address urban flooding neighborhood.
Linwood president Eva Bonilla voiced frustration that the City Council would delay its vote at the request of the developer, but not delay a similar request from the neighborhood. During a zoning commission meeting last week she asked for a 30-day continuance so the developer or property owner could provide a site plan. Site plans are not required for zoning cases but are often made available.
“All of my neighbors are opposed to this,” Bonilla told the council.
Developer Thomas Loughborough told the council he thought the process had become unfair. He developed about 40 condo units on the other half of the block where Azelea West is proposed and argued that he followed along with what the neighborhood and city wanted.
“I feel like to a certain extent the goalposts got moved,” he said. “It’s almost like the rules changed for a different group.”
Not everyone in Linwood is worried.
Michael Maxvill, who lives about four blocks from the project, said he spends a lot of time walking around the neighborhood and rarely sees traffic issues or parking problems. Maxvill said he thought the situation was “over blown” and that people were worried about an apartment hurting their property values. Traffic would be worse, he said, if the lots became a restaurant or retail.
“A lot of times we find ourselves walking our dog and pushing the stroller in the middle of the street, because there’s just not a lot of traffic,” Maxvill said.
