Timetable is set for Stockyards overlay

Fort Worth City Council members and Mayor Betsy Price went out of their way at their Tuesday meeting to praise the work of the Historic Stockyards Design District Task Force in its efforts to devise guidelines for development in the north side area often referred to as the city’s heart.

Praise is proper. The 16 task force members have been working for months, essentially as a favor to the council, on a difficult job.

The task force chairman, architect Eric Hahnfeld, also praised his group, which is also the right thing to do.

“There has been a lot of work done, despite what I read in the paper,” Hahnfeld said.

Fair enough. This paper has noted the sharp differences between task force members and urged them to move forward.

It’s also clear that the mayor and council share some concerns.

Councilman Sal Espino, whose district includes the Stockyards, noted that the task force has produced “a pretty good first draft” of design standards, but he also noted that its members have sharp differences.

“It’s time to take those difficult discussions and make decisions,” Espino said.

Price usually gets straight to the point, and this was no exception. One of the biggest sticking points to the task force work is that some people insist that the council grant a city historic designation that would restrict Stockyards development.

“I think the task force really needs to stick with the charge” it was given by the council, the mayor said. “It’s not about a historic overlay. It’s not about a historic designation. This is a design overlay district and the standards it creates. Anything else will come before this council.”

Hahnfeld said the task force will review proposed building height restrictions, the subject of much disagreement among members, at a meeting scheduled Aug. 19.

The group is set to hold its final public meeting on Aug. 26 and to vote on its final recommendations to the council in early September.

“I believe we will come to a consensus and be able to deliver the Stockyards Design Overlay District document to you in early September,” Hahnfeld told the council.

That sounds like a good plan.

This story was originally published August 6, 2015 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Timetable is set for Stockyards overlay."