Fort Worth city leaders are considering a public improvement district that would pay for amenities on Panther Island as redevelopment in the area along downtown begins.
The Fort Worth City Council tentatively will hold a public hearing Feb. 10 on the proposed district, under which property owners pay an extra assessment for improvements such as water enhancements along the Trinity River, street improvements, lighting and other needs to establish and maintain Panther Island.
Officials from the Tarrant Regional Water District, or TRWD, a major property owner and driver of the flood control project that will open up more than 300 acres for development, have taken the unusual step of agreeing to pay assessments even though it’s tax-exempt.
“Other public partners will be asked to do the same to allow sufficient funding as the district develops,” city staff told council members Tuesday in a report. Tarrant County College, Tarrant County and the city are the other public property owners, Brady Kirk, city assistant finance director, said in response to questions from the Report.
Texas law permits establishment of such districts, which are typically in place for a number of years to pay for improvements and maintenance and often renewed.
Likely improvements that the taxing district would pay for include operations and maintenance enhancements that ensure clean and safe green spaces, public areas and the “public realm” around the canals to be built that will create the island:
- Infrastructure and water recreation needs.
- Improvements that “enhance the district’s community,” including litter abatement; confronting illegal dumping; landscaping; promotional signs and banners; lighting; streetscapes; and other capital projects like streets, sidewalks, roads and rights-of-way.
- Security lighting, camera installation, patrols, additional safety technologies, street calming measures, and capital improvements for pedestrian, bike and transit shelter safety.
- Advertising, promotion, health and sanitation, water and wastewater, public safety, business development and cultural enhancements.
- Expenses incurred in the district’s establishment, administration and operation.
The proposed public improvement district would cover the planned Panther Island district. (Courtesy image | City of Fort Worth) More than half of the private property owners in the district, as represented by land area and value, signed onto a petition presented to the city in November seeking the public improvement district, or PID, Kirk told council members in this week’s report to the council. The 50% threshold is a requirement of state law.
Austin development firm Seco Ventures owns a 2.5-acre site that will be among the first to be developed on the island and is the lead private property owner on the petition. The company has done major office, multifamily apartment and condominium, mixed-use and other projects.
“We’re in negotiations with Seco to get the first project off the ground,” which is a residential development planned at North Main and Northwest 4th streets, Susan Alanis, the Panther Island program director for TRWD, said Wednesday.
There are three proposed extra assessment levels under the public improvement district.
The first is 2 cents per $100 of assessed property valuation that would be imposed until the TRWD board authorizes a contract, likely this spring, to begin construction on an east-west canal that will serve as an urban waterfront in the district.
Construction would begin this summer or fall, Alanis said.
Practically speaking, no assessments would occur under the 2-cent rate, she said.
The next level is 5 cents per $100 of valuation, which would be imposed until there’s a total of $50 million in new private improvements within the PID boundaries. Currently, the proposed district has a zero value of private improvements, Alanis said.
The third level, the highest, is 16.5 cents per $100 of valuation. That would kick in after the first $50 million in private improvements are complete. However, the TRWD board committed in November to pay the maximum assessment beginning in fiscal 2026. Other property owners’ assessments would begin in 2027.
“While we’re tax-exempt,” TRWD officials agreed to pay the maximum assessment “so we can start generating some resources,” Alanis said.
The city will administer the district, and TRWD will manage the PID’s revenue. As the district matures, an entity such as the Downtown Fort Worth Inc. economic development organization will likely be formed to take on those duties, Alanis said.
The Central City Flood Control Project, a partnership of multiple public agencies including TRWD and the city, will most prominently feature the construction of a bypass channel in the Trinity River. The channel will provide flood protection to more than 2,400 acres near downtown.
Panther Island will result once the bypass channel is complete and full of water and old levees are removed. And that will result in more than 300 acres north of downtown being available for development, 117.28 acres of which are privately owned, Kirk said.
Currently, TRWD has 36 acres in the district that are available for development. The agency went out to bid last fall for development proposals.
The removal of the levees is about 12 years away, Alanis said.
Scott Nishimura is senior editor for local government accountability at the Fort Worth Report. Reach him at scott.nishimura@fortworthreport.org.
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