If you live off of Longhorn Trail or on the North side of the Sewel Tract you probably got one of these the other day. I'm not sure how many of there are within 300 feet of this tract that got the notice.
It's pretty much inevitable that DR Horton is going to acquire this land and build on it, not much we can do about that, but we do have some leverage in trying to get concessions out of DR Horton and the Zoning commission even those of who don't live in Fort Worth.
They've already built out the newer development to the east of the CTE center with the smallest permissible lots at 5,000 square feet and now a bunch of new build to rent homes going in.
The zoning requested by DR Horton for this tract is A-5 which means single family lots as small as 5,000 square feet (just shy of a 1/10th of an acre). Looking at building about 1,200 homes and some light commercial (gas station and or small strip center) on the north-east corner of the property.
A-5 zoning would serve to increase traffic and congestion in the area and I think decrease property values over the long run. Especially considering there is much more planned development on the west side of W Cleburne Road bringing in potentially thousands more homes.
It's not practical to expect this tract to be broken up into 2 acre lots like the homes along Longhorn Trail, but we can push the zoning commission to increase the minimum lot size to A-7.5. Which means the minimum lot size would be 7,500 square feet, so fewer homes and they would necessarily be nicer/higher value homes.
Doing this would also set a precedent for future development in the area.
I've already spoken with the Fort Worth City Councilmember (Dr. Jared Williams) about my concerns and I think that asking the Counsel/Zoning commission to set it as A-7.5 is doable - I think we could push for A-10 though getting A-7.5 is probably the best result we could expect.
It would be helpful if I wasn't the only voice at the Zoning commission meeting. I believe that speakers can still present via Zoom. I've started a petition to request that the zoning be set at A-7.5.
