A vocal group of homeowners in a far-flung Fort Worth subdivision are challenging plans for one of the city’s largest commercial and residential developments.Representatives of real estate behemoth Walton Global approached Fort Worth zoning commissioners in May, hoping to rezone parcels of their 1,756-acre property along Chisholm Trail Parkway for a data center and higher-density housing than what existing designations allowed.Residents of Panther Heights, Walton’s northern neighbors, protested the proposals vehemently. They feared the projects would strain the area’s infrastructure and spoil the community’s landscape. The commission, ultimately split between the neighborhood’s worries and the developer’s promises, recommended Tuesday that Fort Worth’s City Council approve Walton’s residential plans but scrap the data center.A plot of land surrounding Old Granbury Road near the Chisholm Trail Parkway tollroad is in discussion with developers to construct a massive mixed-use development in Crowley. In order to move forward with the project, they’re trying to rezone hundreds of acres of land but resident pushback has stalled their efforts.Stuck Up Rock CreekWalton, based in Arizona, added Rock Creek Ranch to its extensive land portfolio in 2014. The property, 14 miles southwest of downtown and just northeast of Tarleton State University, straddles both sides of Chisholm Trail Parkway. The firm owns two other residential communities along the freeway, each spanning hundreds of acres.Walton touts Rock Creek Ranch as a future growth hub on Fort Worth’s bustling outskirts. What exactly the company envisions for its “master plan” development has yet to be conceptualized, but it expects to build thousands of homes and apartments and cultivate commercial spaces to support them. In 2016, Fort Worth created a specialized property tax zone (called a public improvement district) to help bankroll the project’s infrastructure costs. (By comparison, Harvest, a flagship Hillwood residential project in Argyle, stretches 1,200 acres.)Much of Rock Creek’s farmland is zoned to be redeveloped as single-family homes with minimum lot sizes of 5,000 square feet (properties labeled in zoning shorthand as ‘A-5’). Most of the land lining the highway is set aside for apartment and commercial construction.Walton initially proposed rezoning 302.2 acres of single-family space for zero lot line homes and an additional bundle of apartments. Only one of the four revised parcels would be somewhat close to Panther Heights’ fence line. City planning staff found the suggestion sensible.“Of the four tracts included in this change of zoning request, none are directly adjacent to any established residential areas or uses,” staff wrote in their original assessment. “In the instance that these tracts directly abutted any existing residential developments, they would need to be compatible to and complement the existing lot densities. However there is no substantive development in this area, and there is no established pattern to fit into.”The owners of one-acre lots in Panther H …
See the full article on Arizona residential development, or, read more Arizona real estate investing news. Feel free to share our site with your investor friends.
