For the second time in four months, hours of public debate over tree removal and building plans ended with Colleyville City Council rejecting a proposed housing development on the border of Colleyville and Grapevine.
By again voting to deny without prejudice, Colleyville officials are keeping the door open for WillowTree Custom Homes to return with a revised proposal in the coming months. The council could have prevented developers from submitting a new plan for 2417 Wilkes Drive and 6900 Pool Road for at least a year.
Council members did not find the developer’s proposal consistent with the city’s vision and comprehensive plan, said Mayor Pro Tem Callie Rigney.
“There are clearly alternative options for developing this property in a manner that are keeping with the city’s vision and address the numerous concerns raised by the neighboring property owners,” Rigney said. “However, this is not it.”
It was a case of deja vu for the 500-plus residents who have opposed WillowTree Custom Homes’ plans since they were first introduced last fall.
In February, amid vocal concerns about impending tree removal and increased car traffic, council members denied the developer’s request to build 19 homes on a 14-acre site currently zoned for agricultural and single family estate residential. Officials were also concerned about drainage and steep slopes on the property, which sits near Big Bear Creek.
Less than two months later, the developer’s representative, Curtis Young of Sage Group Inc., returned with two plans that reduced the number of home lots from 19 to 14 and preserved 72% of the existing tree canopy – higher than the city ordinance’s requirement of 50%. The property is home to nearly 1,000 large trees that make up one of Colleyville’s last remaining pieces of Cross Timbers forest.
One proposal ran all traffic through an existing neighborhood on Wilkes Drive, an outcome that opponents saw as untenable. The other plan, which would build a new entrance on Pool Road, earned the go-ahead from zoning commissioners in April.
But the new subdivision, The Bluffs at Colleyville, never earned supermajority support from council members. The result was a 7-0 denial of both proposals Tuesday night.
In the two weeks since council members discussed the proposal on June 6, Tim Waterworth and the Save Colleyville Trees campaign rallied neighbors to submit hundreds more opposition letters and show up at City Hall to speak against the proposal.
Waterworth, a wealth manager living near the proposed development, said the council is taking the values of residents into account rather than simply ensuring the proposal follows city rules.
“It kind of feels like we’ve gotten beyond the city playing ball with the developers and the business as usual mindset,” Waterworth said. “This land is super unique. But I got a feeling that if we weren’t here, it might have been a different outcome.”
The developers tried in good faith to address council and citizen concerns to the extent that they could, Young said. He presented a detailed landscaping plan that would plant a variety of trees near the entrance on Pool Road, though Rigney said she would like more details on the species and other materials that would be used.
“What we’re proposing here is a development of the highest quality,” Young said.
Residents love trees, but it’s the nature of the beast that some will need to be removed to create more housing for new residents, Young said. The owners of the Poole Road and Wilkes Drive have property rights that must be respected as well, he added.
“We are trying to do this as responsible as we think it’s possible to do this development,” Young said. “Who gets to decide that someone’s property is treated differently than others’ property? I guess that’s you guys.”
All council members have taken the decision seriously, Rigney said, and want to make the decision that’s best for Colleyville residents.
“You’re kind of acting like it’s just crazy that we want to protect Colleyville’s atmosphere,” Rigney said. “But that’s what we were hired to do.”
With very little land left to develop in Colleyville, officials want to see an outstanding development plan that brings something new to the city, said council member Chuck Kelley. Young and property owners have the right to develop the land as an agricultural property, but are not entitled to a zoning change, Kelley said.
“This is a development that we can see everywhere, and it’s taking every characteristic of this land and changing it, in my opinion,” he said. “I would really like to see something that works with the land, not against the land.”
Denying the proposal without prejudice gives the council more leverage and input on the final development plans, Mayor Bobby Lindamood said. Waterworth and other members of Save Colleyville Trees suspect they will be back in City Hall later this year to protest another proposal by WillowTree Custom Homes.
“We’re going to keep opposing and, you know what, we’ll get involved with other matters in this city that are similar,” Waterworth said. “We’re not going away.”
Haley Samsel is the environmental reporter for the Fort Worth Report. You can reach them at haley.samsel@fortworthreport.org.
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