Villages of Woodland Springs Homeowners Association

Groups want to limit growth

Jul 14, 2006

FORT WORTH -- Neighborhood leaders in far north Fort Worth are meeting with one another and with city leaders to stop or slow the influx of apartment and town-home complexes into the fast-growing area.

The residents worry that schools in the Keller district and roads will be overwhelmed by new people that high-density projects bring, said Mark Barnes, president of Trace Ridge Homeowners Association.

Far north Fort Worth, bordered by Farm Road 156 on the west, U.S. 377 on the east, Loop 820 on the south and Denton County on the north, is among Tarrant County's fastest-growing areas. The 26,000-student Keller district's enrollment is growing by more than 2,000 students a year, largely because of the new Fort Worth residents.

"The rezoning for multifamily developments is out of control for north Fort Worth. These people need to make their voices heard ... or there is no way we are going to be able to control development," said Lara Lee Hogg, an organizer of the fledgling North Fort Worth Alliance, a group of neighborhoods banding together for better communication.

Developers say apartments and town homes are meeting a market demand. They say they want to work with homeowners on things such as walls or fences to screen their developments from neighborhoods.

Developers are going to exercise their right to develop land, but it works best when residents talk to them about what they want to see and to listen to advantages that developers are proposing, said Rex Anderson of Acres, which wanted to build a mixed-use development at Keller Hicks and Alta Vista roads. Anderson said area residents appeared to oppose the project even if it meant a better deal for the neighborhood.

"If they would sit down and actually talk about what you're going to do, it would help," he said.

On a recent Friday night, about 125 homeowners met at Heritage Church of Christ in Fort Worth to talk over their concerns about the proposed Riverside Villas Apartments on North Riverside Drive. Residents from Arcadia Park, Trace Ridge, Manor Hill, Heritage and Woodland Springs voiced worries about property values, privacy and traffic. The apartments would be built for low- and moderate-income tenants.

At the end of the meeting, a vote of raised hands showed overwhelming support for continuing to oppose the apartments.

Mark Brast of the Manor Hill Homeowners Association said neighborhood groups are not out to sink every multifamily or high-density development. His and other homeowner associations have said OK to apartment complexes on North Tarrant Parkway and Heritage Trace Parkway because they came with certain road and drainage improvements and recreational places for children who will live in the apartments.

Several projects are causing people in the area to huddle.

In late June, some north Fort Worth residents met with D.R. Horton representatives to discuss a proposed 560-acre, single-family town home and commercial development just west of Basswood Drive and Interstate 35W.

D.R. Horton's proposal goes before the Fort Worth Zoning Commission on Wednesday. Hogg said area homeowners have no objections to the developer's plans for single-family homes, but the town homes have some on edge.

"At this point the town homes don't follow the comprehensive plan," she said, referring to the document meant to guide long-term development in the city.

D.R. Horton officials did not immediately respond to phone messages seeking comment about the project.

Acres plans to build on the property at Keller Hicks and Alta Vista roads, but not the combination of apartments and businesses they had initially planned, Anderson said. A big-box retailer with some neighboring stores will probably be built, he said. No zoning change would be needed.

The Fort Worth Zoning Commission recommended that the city deny the zoning change needed for the initial project.

"We tried to get in a center that would really add something to the neighborhood," Anderson said.

Residents are also monitoring 10 parcels zoned for apartments, including the Riverside Villas site, a tract northeast of North Beach Street and North Tarrant Parkway, a tract near North Beach Street and Golden Triangle Boulevard, and one at Ray White Road and North Tarrant Parkway.

City Councilman Danny Scarth, whose District 4 includes far north Fort Worth, said he is trying to persuade owners of property zoned for apartments to rezone them or develop them for other purposes, such as single-family houses.

"I have heard just in general from most of the neighborhood associations that they would like us to limit multifamily, primarily because of overloaded arterials," or roads, Scarth said.

Mark Wolcott, a partner in the Riverside Villas project, said his project would have 192 units, with all but eight to house residents living at 60 percent of the median income for their family sizes. Generally, that would range from one person earning about $24,000 annually to a family of five with a household income of about $46,000, he said.

Riverside Villas would be indistinguishable from market-rate apartments, adhere to high maintenance standards and be subject to review by state inspectors for 30 years, Wolcott said. His plan calls for 108 feet between the apartment building and the nearest resident's property. After discussions with residents, he said he may look at tall, solid fences and redesigning the apartments to two stories. The original plans call for three stories.

"We went over the issues that had been brought up," Wolcott said.

Developers want to use low-income housing tax credits and tax-exempt bonds to help pay for the project. A hearing before the Texas Bond Review Board, which must review the financing, is expected to be scheduled in September, Barnes said.


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Bill Teeter, 817-685-3801 bteeter@star-telegram.com