FORT WORTH, Texas — This article was originally published by our content partners at the Dallas Business Journal. You can read the original article here.
As development plans progress for both the Fort Worth Stockyards and Panther Island, some worry that the big-budget projects could price out residents living in the neighborhood in between — the Historic Northside.
That's why the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce partnered with the Urban Land Institute to study ways the city could help limit gentrification in the predominantly Hispanic neighborhood.
The panel, made up of eight volunteers, toured the neighborhood, studied maps and policies and conducted interviews with residents over the course of a week. Members of the panel included Henry Cisneros, former mayor of San Antonio and former secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Omar Gonzalez, director of development for Oxbow Development Group, the firm responsible for San Antonio's Pearl District.
The Northside is the space between the two ends of a barbell of future development. Panther Island, the $1 billion flood control project, has recently seen an influx of funding and a 234-page report full of recommendations for development, paving the way for its future transformation. On the other end is the Fort Worth Stockyards, where developers plan spend to hundreds of millions of dollars and add 300,000 square feet.
The Urban Land Institute panel found that properties they studied in the area had an average appraised value of $225,000, based on data from the Tarrant Appraisal District. The area has seen drastic increase in values in the past five years, at more than 90% on average, said panel member Ashley Terry, vice president of development for Oklahoma City's Wheeler District.
"These trends are really putting pressure on these neighborhoods and on legacy residents in these neighborhoods, and increasing the potential risk for displacement," Terry said.
Anette Landeros, president and CEO of the Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said it's important to start the conversation early about change coming to the neighborhood and ways to prevent displacement. Her organization has been leading the Main Street America program for the Historic Northside. Main Street is a $650,000 pilot program funded by the Fort Worth Local Development Corp. that aims to revitalize the underserved areas of city. She said her organization has heard from residents who are concerned about gentrification. She said that even with all of this study, she still worries about the impact of development.
"We can't make any promises ... that anything that we're doing or attempting to do will have the outcome that we desire," she said. "But I will tell you that I feel a lot better that we are now doing something."
Among the recommendations the panel made to avoid displacement are:
- Establishing a zoning overlay that aims to conserve the "character, culture and historical integrity" of the Northside while simultaneously promoting housing and expanded services.
- Removing industrial uses adjacent to commercial corridors.
- Allowing properties to be eligible for five-year tax abatements from the city when 30% or more of the assessed value has been spent on improvements by the property owner.
- Waiving city fees.
The panel also suggested programs for homeowners, such as funding to help cover property tax bills, expanding Fort Worth's priority repair program, foreclosure prevention programs and expanding a legal aid group to help sort out title and tax issues in the community through a partnership with an entity such as Texas A&M's law school in Fort Worth.
Outside of policies, the panel also suggested organizing groups such as a Northside Arts and Culture Alliance to support local arts. Also suggested was forming a Community Action Committee made up of 13-15 multilingual people to act as advocates to contribute to the city's comprehensive plan and kick off an action plan to address reinvestment and anti-displacement services.
The Urban Land Institute will release the full report of findings online.
Fort Worth City Council Member Carlos Flores, who represents the Historic Northside, said not all change is bad for the community when it's done in collaboration between various stakeholders.
"I am not going to let development tear up the good fabric of the area," he said during the panel's Sept. 20 presentation. "These are not mutually exclusive concepts. The area needs opportunity in order to grow and in order to remain an area to be proud of and livable."
Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker said adopting some of the decisions could potentially require council's vote. Other recommendations could be adopted into the city's 2050 comprehensive plan. The Tarrant Regional Water District and private sector partners will also play an "integral part" of development on Panther Island, she noted.
According to the ULI presentation, the Northside attracts 300,000 annual visitors a year. Some of the top visited places include Joe T. Garcia's and Esperanza's Mexican restaurants. The area has 87 retail buildings, about 355,000 square feet with a vacancy rate of 3.7%. The Main Street corridor area has not seen any new commercial construction since 2014.
