Fort Worth’s latest housing development comes with caveats aimed at reducing congestion in fast growing far north Fort Worth.
While the city’s northern border continues to grapple with the impacts of rapid growth, Fort Worth approved a request to annex about 574 acres of land destined to become single family housing and industrial sites.
The planned community, called Terra Vella, will include about 1,400 new rooftops.
Rapid growth in far north Fort Worth often results in clogged roads and safety concerns, said Rusty Fuller, president of the North Fort Worth Alliance. This development promises to alleviate concerns of added congestion by prioritizing improvements to surrounding roads.
“This whole thing is going to come together,” Fuller said. “It was going to be a pain, now it’s just going to be a growing pain rather than a gaping wound.”
Fort Worth City Council unanimously approved the annexation of the property and its companion zoning case, with conditions. Green Brick Partners, the property owner, requested to zone the site primarily for single family housing and set aside a portion of the site adjacent to a nearby railroad as heavy industrial.
Green Brick Partners also owns a nearby development called Madero.
Fuller was concerned about the city’s plan to annex about 434 football fields worth of land near other single family housing developments. The two- lane road next to the development site, Sendera Ranch Boulevard, is one of the only routes residents in surrounding developments can use to reach major thoroughfares.
To improve connectivity near the development, Green Brick Partners committed to expediting the construction of a road connecting Rancho Canyon Way to John Day Road, alleviating congestion on other major thoroughfares.
“This ought to be the way development is done in Fort Worth,” Fuller said.
Fuller is hopeful this increased investment in northern roads will translate to additional allocations through the city’s 2026 bond program, which could fund more improvements to Sendera Ranch Boulevard and John Day Road, fixing congestion in the far north.
Developers also committed to finish two-lane construction of Sendera Ranch Boulevard, which will connect the housing developments to Highway 114 by 2025. Plus, the developer committed to installing signals to facilitate left turns into nearby schools.
“(We thought) that would be a good thing, to just make a commitment and show our committed progress to all the development we have going on in Fort Worth,” said Bobby Samuel, national vice president of land at Green Brick Partners.
Green Brick Partners requested a full-purpose annexation of the property. The city can only initiatecertain types of annexations, such as roads. As a part of the annexation, the city is responsible for providing Terra Vella all municipal services, including fire, police, utilities and parks.
“We continue to work aggressively to get roads built and are very appreciative of the North Fort Worth Alliance and Green Brick Partners for their willingness to collaborate with the council office and the city of Fort Worth staff to tackle infrastructure challenges in north Fort Worth,” councilmember Alan Blaylock, who represents the area, said.
Rachel Behrndt is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at rachel.behrndt@fortworthreport.org or via X.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.