Fort Worth wants to block warehouse in southeast neighborhood. Developer calls it illegal

A possible legal battle over 7 acres of industrial land in southeast Fort Worth hasn’t shaken the resolve of city officials or nearby residents committed to repurposing the property for residential use.

Fort Worth’s zoning commission Wednesday unanimously recommended that city council rezone the “industrial park” in Village Creek for low-density multifamily residences, a change initiated by city leaders in early February. The commission backed the adjustment with little hesitation when it initially took up the case on Feb. 14.

“The land use doesn’t seem appropriate,” commissioner Jeremy Raines summarized shortly before the vote.

The fenced-in plot of gravel hugging the northern edge of U.S. 287 rubs against a street of single-family homes to the west, a community center to the north, and a nursing home and truck yards to the east. Dallas real estate firm Provident, the property’s owner, plans to build a trucking warehouse on the land, adding to the ever-expanding maze of lots and warehouses sprouting up across southeast Fort Worth. A centuries old cemetery is packed in between fencing separating the contested site from Moorview Avenue.

Residents of Village Creek and nearby neighborhoods have long sounded alarms about the potential dangers of industrialization in communities already reeling from decades of neglect: dirtier air, damaged streets and disappearing green space, to name a few. Council member Jeanette Martinez kickstarted the disputed rezoning at their behest, hoping to reverse or diminish the damage.

Village Creek residents, by now well-versed in expressing their frustrations and fears through years of public meetings, repeated their case to commissioners Wednesday afternoon.

“It is too much industrial; it is industrial encroachment,” said Patrina Newton, a Village Creek native and former Fort Worth senior planner, armed with a slideshow detailing past code violations on the property, the minutiae city land ordinances and the area’s historic underdevelopment.

The developer’s attorney, Art Anderson, defended his client’s track record, describing the improvements and corrections they’d made to the site since acquiring it in 2022. But any land use designation other than industrial was off the table and, he argued, possibly illegal.

“If you downzone this property, it’s going to be a significant diminution in the market value,” Anderson said. “And if you look at the case law, both Texas and federal, it’s pretty clear this would be an unconstitutional regulatory taking.”

Provident informed city planning staff in March that it planned to build a 54,000 square foot warehouse regardless of the zoning change, a right enshrined in state development codes mandating “that all projects be governed in accordance with the regulations that were in effect at the time the applicant gave fair notice to the City of their project and permit sought.”

Other state laws may further limit the city’s options. Senate Bill 929, passed by the Texas legislature last May, forces municipalities to compensate developers for potential financial losses endured during a zoning change. Anderson suggested his clients might be open selling the land to the city outright if they could hash out favorable terms.

Village Creek residents were unfazed and urged the city to take on the challenge. City Council will decide the case’s fate on May 21.

“I deal with people, not trucks,” said Perry Williams, a retired Fort Worth water department employee who lives a fence-hop away from the site. “I am for the change because that is what Fort Worth is about.”