Fort Worth delays zoning for Hemphill Street townhomes after residents push back
The Fort Worth City Council delayed approval of a townhome project Tuesday after residents raised concerns about its impact on their south Fort Worth neighborhood.
It was the latest in a series of developments in the Hemphill corridor, where some residents have voiced concerns about displacement and gentrification.
The neighborhood, south of downtown Fort Worth and west of Interstate 35W, is predominantly Hispanic with longtime property owners.
Fort Worth-based TownSite proposes 24 two-story attached townhomes on the corner of Hemphill Street and West Morningside Drive. The location was previously a used car lot and is now a COVID-19 testing site.
The townhomes would be rented and offer “another residential option at a lower price point than the larger rental projects in the area,” a TownSite representative said in a city zoning document.
However city council member Elizabeth Beck, whose district includes the Hemphill corridor, remanded the project back to the city’s zoning commission, urging TownSite co-founder Mary Nell Poole to work with the community to address their concerns.
Concerns about the townhome project started just before the Jan. 11 zoning commission hearing when members of the group Hemphill No Se Vende (Hemphill is not for sale) accused the city of not properly notifying residents of the project’s proposed zoning change.
Ricardo Avitia, a community organizer with the group and city council candidate, said he only found out about the project by reviewing the zoning commission docket before its Jan. 11 meeting.
He pressed the zoning comission to kill the project, arguing that the lack of signage on the property indicating a zoning change should disqualify it from consideration.
A city lawyer said at the Jan. 11 meeting that the lack of signage does not disqualify the zoning change.
This led to a Jan. 26 community meeting during which residents pressed Poole for specifics about how much the townhomes would rent for.
Poole couldn’t offer specifics at the meeting, but promised residents she she would try to obtain them.
Redevelopment of the Hemphill corridor began in 2018 when the city and residents discussed plans to rezone a portion of Hemphill Street between Allen and Felix Streets.
The city invested $4.1 million in 2020 to redraw street markings, add bike lanes and remove one lane of traffic in each direction between West Vickery Boulevard and West Boyce Avenue.
A community task force had been working with the city to develop a new set of zoning codes that long-time resident Juanita Rojas said would have protected the community from residential development like the townhome project.
Speaking at the council meeting Tuesday, she accused Avitia and Hemphill No Se Vende of sabotaging the comprehensive zoning process and leaving the neighborhood vulnerable to the kinds of development the group is fighting against.
The Hemphill Corridor Development Collaborative, a community group managing the redevelopment in the neighborhood, has held a series of online and in-person meetings in 2020 and 2021 about the proposed zoning change, but nothing has passed through the City Council.
Avitia didn’t dispute that the proposed changes would have prevented the current townhome project. He said his opposition was meant to prevent the city from lumping the Hemphill Corridor into the same district as the Near Southside.
Former city council member Ann Zadeh, who’s district included the Hemphill Corridor, said the proposed rules would have been based on the framework of the Near Southside, but would have been tailored to meet the needs of the Hemphill community.
The zoning commission will consider the updated townhome project at its April 12 meeting.
This story was originally published February 14, 2023 at 9:41 PM.
.jpg)