Tarrant County approves special tax for Bonds Ranch development near Eagle Mountain Lake

The Tarrant County Commissioners Court approved the creation of a special tax zone in far north Fort Worth on Tuesday morning, establishing a potential funding stream for a yet-to-be-realized development.

The public improvement district spans 836 acres of ranchland and gas wells near Eagle Mountain Lake, encased by Morris Dido Newark Road, Peden Road, and Bonds Ranch Road, the project’s namesake.

Advocates tout the plan as a clever vehicle to help raise the cash needed to build the streets, sewers, and sidewalks for hundreds of future homes on the property; skeptics, wary of costs for homebuyers and the owner’s vision, have cast doubt on the initiative.

Bonds Ranch Road slices east from Eagle Mountain Lake across roughly 10 miles of farmland and subdivisions. The county’s population swell has transformed the country road into a hotbed of residential development. Eagle Mountain High School, situated around two miles west, is scheduled to open its doors in August. Local leaders have committed tens of millions of dollars to expand the street’s size, lighting, and drainage capabilities to accommodate the influx of new residents.

“This is a way to ensure we can get infrastructure in place prior to development,” Manny Ramirez, the Precinct 4 commissioner, said during Tuesday’s public hearing. “We can make sure the integrity of these neighborhoods and communities are protected.”

For decades, the city and county have relied on public improvement districts to bankroll the construction and maintenance of public infrastructure; the county website lists more than 20 dotted across the Fort Worth area, including the Stockyards, North Richland Hillsand downtown.

PID fees function as a property tax. Property owners in a designated area — homes or businesses — fork over a small portion of their land’s assessed value to finance enhancements to streets, sewers and other shared goods over the course of the district’s term (often two to three decades).

“It’s not a blank checkbook; the developer is not given any dollars without providing evidence of construction occurring and invoices supporting that,” county staff explained to commissioners as they debated the proposal.

The developer spearheading the “Bonds Ranch Capital Public Improvement District” intends to direct the pooled funds toward investments in road resources, green spaces, and water and drainage infrastructure, according to its proposal. It suspects implementing the enhancements — and managing the district — will cost upwards around $200 million; the petition didn’t specify the fund’s timeline.

Commissioners also authorized a corresponding “Operations and Maintenance Public Improvement District” for the property, a body tasked with maintaining the property’s new construction. Developers will hash out the details of their project with county and city officials over the coming year, county staff told the commission.

The property falls just outside the Fort Worth city limits but just within its extraterritorial jurisdiction, where, through agreements with the county, it can provide services and utilities. The city will annex the development once the PID’s bonds have been paid off, according to Ramirez. (City council member Macy Hill, whose district borders the property, could not be reached for comment.)

Sheelin McSharry Texas LLP currently owns all of the land within the PID’s boundaries. The Dallas-registered company (with Irish connections) purchased the property in 2008 with future plans for “residential and commercial development,” according to contemporary media reports.

Commissioner Alisa Simmons, the only one of four voting commissioners to oppose the PID, questioned the district’s benefits and the plans of the prospective developer, Centurion American.

“I would just hate to see homeowners shafted; that’s my main concern,” Simmons said just before casting her no vote.

Centurion manages dozens of residential and mixed-use properties across North Texas; the firm will formally add the PID property to its catalog Apr. 9, according to David Davidson Jr., the real estate agent that brokered the deal. Centurion already owns a 540-acre single-family community along the Eagle Mountain lakeside a two mile drive north from the freshly established PID.

The PID’s proposal documents provided next to no specifics about what Centurion hopes to construct on its Bonds Ranch property. Davidson Jr. said Centurion would dedicate 36 of the land’s 836 acres to commercial activities; single-family homes would occupy the rest. Ramirez told the Star-Telegram that the site plans he’d reviewed envisioned 1000 to 1100 houses spread across the plot.

Noah Alcala Bach contributed reporting for this story.