Colored markers and maps at hand, an urban planner highlighted streets and vacant lots along East Vickery Boulevard and Hattie Street, places the engineering and environment firm believes could launch redevelopment and create a neighborhood hub in east Fort Worth.
Ross Haynes Jr., one of the residents in attendance at the recent Eastside Transportation Plan workshop, indicated the largest open lot highlighted and said a grocery store would be ideal at that location.
“You’ve got traffic on both sides and you have access to 287 and then Rosedale coming back this way,” Haynes said, pointing at the map displayed at the open house planning workshop at the Ella Mae Shamblee Library.
The second phase of the Eastside Transportation Plan is underway as residents, business owners and partnering government agencies work together to create a land-use plan that will work in conjunction with the proposed transportation changes to help spur development in the area.
The study area is home to about 79,000 residents or around 8% of the city’s population.
Fort Worth City Council approved its locally preferred alternative plan in January, which laid out how the city would like to see done to improve the main roadways in the area. That includes the main thoroughfare, East Lancaster Avenue, also known as State Highway 180.
Because East Lancaster Avenue is technically owned and maintained by the Texas Department of Transportation, that agency will make the final decision on how the road will look.
A key component of the plan is making East Lancaster Avenue safer. Between 2018 and 2022, 12,136 crashes happened; 100 included deaths.
Pedestrians were involved in 220 crashes. Most of the non-freeway accidents took place on East Lancaster Avenue between Ayers Avenue and Oakland Boulevard.
Over the next few months, the consulting company, WSP, will collaborate with residents to determine where to add density, which areas to prepare for redevelopment and how infrastructure can boost those changes while spurring economic growth.
The area supports about 21,000 jobs and about 2,367 businesses, according to city data. The largest trade sector is retail, making up about 15% of the total business market there.
However, the majority of residents commute for work or leisure, data shows. Around 32,000 residents commute out daily compared to almost 16,000 commuting in. Only 1,127 residents live and work in the area.
Staron Faucher, of WSP and the project manager for the Eastside Transportation Plan, said this crucial step in the planning process will draw from previous plans developed for East Lancaster and go into more details and specifics.
“We’re leveraging that work that was done on 10, 15, 20 different plans and using them moving forward,” he said.
The input collected during the open houses will help create the land development regulations for the area. The goal is to develop a place that everybody can live in and enjoy, Faucher said.
The city is also collecting responses online. Residents can place pins at specific locations on the study area map and leave comments about what they want to see in the area, such as infrastructure improvements or the kind of retail or housing they want to see developed in particular areas.
A focus on increasing density in nine specific areas will help boost economic growth in the overall corridors, officials said. Those nine focus areas are the intersection of I-30 and I-820; Cooks Eastchase and I-30; Country Club Lane; Oakland and I-30; Miller and Rosedale streets; Green Oaks Boulevard and East Lancaster Avenue; Meadowbrook and Handley drives; Vickery Boulevard and Hattie Street; and Beach Street.
A lot of the retail and office spaces in the area are older, most built before 1970, and new retail development has been limited. Despite having over 2.2 million square feet of office space, the lack of Class A space and a major office market has deterred new companies from settling in the area.
The need for more diverse, dense housing is crucial. Since 2010, only seven apartment permits have been filed in the corridor, where single-family homes make up about 61% of the housing market.
The goal is to have the land development regulation and final plans drafted by the summer when they will be presented to City Council for a final vote.
The Eastside Transportation Plan is happening in conjunction with TxDOT’s proposed work on Interstate 30 and a regional effort for a high-speed rail line between Fort Worth and Dallas.
The overhaul of East Lancaster Avenue is priced at $182 million and is now fully funded, from Pine Street to Interstate 820. Officials are hoping for construction on the avenue to start by 2027.
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