Removal of historic designation was supposed to help development in Stop Six. Has it?
In 2016, the Fort Worth City Council voted to remove restrictions designed to preserve the historic character of the Stop Six Sunrise Edition neighborhood.
Removal of the historic overlay designation was intended to allow for more homes to be built and give homeowners more flexibility to renovate existing properties. The designation required any external work on properties to be approved by the city, which, according to those in favor of removal, discouraged development and was a nuisance for homeowners.
Stacy Marshall, president and CEO of Southeast Fort Worth Inc., says removal of the historic designation brought relief for homeowners and developers who did not want to work through its restrictions.
“I know everybody wasn’t happy, but the majority of the people seem to be happy that it’s been removed, because now they’re seeing new housing coming, different stocks of housing, and different price points in the housing,” Marshall said. “They’re bringing people with higher wages to the community that otherwise would have never moved over into the Stop Six area.”
Eight years after the designation was removed disagreement remains over whether removal of the historic overlay district was a good thing for the neighborhood. A review by the Star-Telegram of building permits issued in the neighborhood indicates the removal of the district has coincided with an increase in residential construction but commercial construction has been static.
Some people - including Regina Blair, president of the Stop Six Sunrise Edition Neighborhood Association - remain concerned about the consequences of removing the designation and skeptical about whether the decision has promoted economic development.
Blair drives through the Stop Six Sunrise Edition neighborhood and points out what she sees as haphazard housing development that has occurred since the overlay was removed.
New houses have sprung up that are two stories tall and don’t match other homes in the neighborhood. she says. A new home may be next to a smaller, older home in need of repair.
The lack of consistent development, along with a lack of trees, landscaping, and fencing, makes the neighborhood seem unattractive and less likely to attract new residents, according to Blair.
Blair helped lead the charge in 2007 for an historic designation to improve her neighborhood. The designation provided guidelines for new development, allowed for economic development through an historic district tax credit, and helped homeowners in the Sunrise Edition neighborhood who followed the designation rules.
“We were very sad because the only control that we had, the voice that we had ... about development, and how to interact and engage as citizens and to give us a voice, was just all taken away,” Blair said.
Blair says the designation did not prevent economic development, but instead brought order and protection for an historic area.
The Stop Six Sunrise Edition is one of several neighborhoods within the Stop Six area, including Carver Heights and Village Creek. Stop Six was first settled by Amanda Davis, who purchased land in the area in 1896. Originally called Cowanville, it gained its new name as it was the sixth stop on the Northern Texas Traction Co. streetcar, which ran through the community from 1902 to 1934.
The neighborhood was a predominantly African-American community but today is a mixture of Black and Hispanic families, according to the Census. Stop Six has an unemployment rate two-and-a-half times the city average, and 78 percent of the population is categorized as low-to-moderate income, according to city data.
More homes built
The Star-Telegram collected data from 2008 to 2024 on the number of residential and commercial building permits issued in the Stop Six Sunrise Edition neighborhood to judge what effect the district may have had on development.
The borders of the Stop Six Sunrise Edition are Ramey Avenue to the north, Stalcup Road to the east, Berry Street to the south, and Langston Street to the west.
From 2008 to 2016, before implementation of the historic designation, there were four residential building permits issued in the Stop Six Sunrise Edition that resulted in construction of two new homes. In the same time period there were six residential accessory structure permits, for such things as fences, garages, and ramps.
After the historic designation removal, between 2016 to 2024 there were 127 residential building permits issued that resulted in construction of 116 new homes. Nineteen residential accessory structure permits were issued in the Stop Six Sunrise Edition in that time period.
Three commercial building permits were issued between 2008 and 2016 in the Stop Six Sunrise Edition, compared to two from 2016 to 2024. No commercial accessory structure permits have been issued since 2008.
Historic district to encourage revitalization
Blair petitioned for and received a historic designation for the Stop Six Sunrise Edition neighborhood in May 2007 on behalf of the Stop Six Sunrise Edition Neighborhood Association to help revitalize the area. The move followed receipt of a $1.2 million grant from Fort Worth’s Model Blocks Program, which aims to revitalize neighborhoods. The program develops a neighborhood plan in partnership with the city, local businesses, and organizations.
The Historic and Cultural designation status for an individual property or historic district requires every property to meet a criteria for historical significance and structural integrity as laid out by the city’s historic preservation ordinance.
According to staff who spoke at a Historic and Cultural Landmark meeting in August 2016, the historic overlay was given to the Sunrise Edition neighborhood in 2007. The unique qualities of the neighborhood that helped it meet the criteria for historic designation included its history of being the sixth stop on the interurban streetcar system that ran from Fort Worth to Dallas; the fact that it was one of the earliest African American communities in Fort Worth; and that it is associated with Amanda Davis, who was the first African American to purchase land in Stop Six in 1896.
A property or historic district that is receives an Historic and Cultural Landmark designation preserves buildings from being demolished, provides a 10-year freeze on city property taxes and limits changes to the properties.
Any work done on the exterior of a building requires a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) to uphold the historic significance and integrity of the individual property or properties in the historic overlay before permits may be issued.
According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the benefits of a local historic district include that properties appreciate at rates greater than the local market overall; the areas positively impact the local economy through tourism; and the districts protect investments of owners of historic properties. Historic districts also help educate people by linking the past to the present, help the environment by retaining existing resources and reducing waste; and help citizens direct their communities’ future by participating in the designation process, according to the National Trust.
Designation removed
But in 2016, Councilwoman Gyna Bivens said the designation was discouraging investment in the neighborhood, and she wanted to remove the historic designation to improve housing development. The city voted to remove the designation in June 2016.
“Removing that designation has proven to be worthwhile,” Bivens told the Star Telegram. “Because we had a booming expansion of new home construction, and we had an equally impressive expansion of new home rehabilitation.”
A staff report by the Historic and Cultural Landmarks Commission in 2016 recommended the removal of the historic overlay district because some factors that originally helped the neighborhood qualify for the district no longer existed.
Blair said she never heard from developers about their challenges with the designation and had no communication from the city on removing the designation. The only time Blair was able to give input was at the July and August 2016 Historic and Cultural Landmark Commission meetings, after the city voted to remove the overlay.
Marshall, president and CEO of Southeast Fort Worth Inc., which focuses on economic development, revitalization, community development on the east side of I-35, said he supported removal of this historic district because of the limitations it placed on developers.
“The reason we did that is because we knew in order for development to happen, getting more infill housing, higher infill housing, bringing in more commercial development, we had to have it removed,” Marshall said.
Marshall and Bivens point to new homes along Cottey Street, Pinson Street, and Mt. Horum Way as evidence that the move worked. New larger and modern houses, some two stories high, have been built on vacant land, each with their own sidewalks and concrete driveways. Some of the new development is next to homes with faded exterior paint, fences that are overgrown with weeds, and no sidewalks or concrete driveways.
‘I just wasn’t gonna deal with it’
Lester Jones, 76, grew up in the Stop Six area and the Sunrise Edition neighborhood in the ‘50s and ‘60s. He remembers when the area was rural — people raised hogs and cows, and every child walked to school because there were no buses. With no city water, residents took buckets to get water from a hydrant on Langston Street, he said.
Jones now lives in Highland Hills, southwest of Stop Six, and is the owner of Lester Jones Construction. He says preserving the history of Stop Six is important but the removal of the overlay was an economic advantage.
He said the overlay made it challenging to build homes in the Sunrise Edition neighborhood. Since homes had to maintain the historic significance and integrity of the neighborhood, building materials were more expensive and hard to find, and house inspections were harder to pass, according to Jones.
“I just wasn’t gonna deal with it,” Jones said. “So I just did not build houses out there until they decided to remove the overlay.”
Jones says mostly minority-owned contractors were interested in building in the neighborhood when the historic designation was in place. Its removal brought more opportunities and interest in the area, according to Jones.
Blair drives through areas where she sees reminders of the neighborhood’s more vibrant past. At the intersection of Ramey Avenue and Birdell Court, The Tick Tock Club is now gone. A building which housed a doctor’s office across Birdell Court is a empty. What used to be a laundromat on Ramey Avenue is now an empty building.
Blair hopes to work with others to improve the conditions of her neighborhood, finding the order and economic development she and the Sunrise Edition neighborhood tried to attain nearly two decades ago.
“At some point we need to learn how to work together, and we need to understand, we need to educate ourselves about what’s really going on,” Blair said. “So that we can intelligently communicate to each other what our differences are and our similarities so that we can move the whole community forward.”
This story was originally published October 23, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
