On Wednesday evening, the lawyer and design company for the future Flower Mound Ranch development in west Flower Mound held the first of two community meetings to present their concept plan and answer residents’ questions.
“We want to be transparent and candid with the community,” said Attorney Misty Ventura during Wednesday’s meeting. “We want to make sure everybody’s questions are answered related to this project.”
The concept plan for the project, by McAdams Co., calls for 3,077 single-family homes (including both detached and attached units) 10,448 apartments and 6.7-million square feet of retail, restaurant and office space, plus additional hospital, school, hotel and civic uses, over the next 25-40 years. Jack Furst, a longtime resident, owns the entire 2,100-acre property at Hwy 377 and FM 1171.
This spring, the Town Council approved the applicant’s request to change 544 acres (in the north and west parts of the property) from Interim Holding (a placeholder designation since annexation) to Single-Family Estate (one-acre lots). The applicant has also submitted a request to zone 1,042 acres for Mixed Use, and town staff are reviewing it. Ventura said the property has vested rights for mixed-use and single-family estate development as a result of a settlement with the town of Flower Mound in 2006.
“Flower Mound acknowledged those vested rights when they rezoned in March of this year the estate-density residential,” Ventura said. “There’s been lots of work going on (since the settlement) to implement these vested rights, and now we’re in the position to do that.”
Ventura said that because the project has those vested rights, the development does not need the town to rezone the property to Mixed Use, and she said they’ll go ahead with the project even if the rezoning request is not approved. They’ve requested the rezoning because it makes the project easier to market.
“This project is coming, no matter what,” Ventura said.
Whether the zoning is approved could affect the total number of apartments in the project, Ventura said.
“If the zoning is approved, we’re capping multifamily at that number (10,448),” she said Thursday. “If the property is never zoned, my current vested rights don’t limit the number of multifamily units I’m entitled to build.”
The estimated numbers of single-family and multi-family homes could change, depending on the market.
“If the market doesn’t want multiple-family or hotel or medical office, nobody will build those uses,” Ventura said. “The market will dictate the development.”
Ventura said Furst envisions that when Flower Mound Ranch is complete, no one would need to leave west Flower Mound, it’ll have plenty of high-quality places to live, eat, shop and play.
“Nobody wants higher quality development and higher quality amenities than this owner,” Ventura said. “They want this to be a legacy project … they have a vision, and we want to implement it.”
Last year, Furst brought a different concept plan with a different development company, Hines, to the town of Flower Mound. The Furst Ranch plan called for 4,000 apartments, 1,280 condos and townhomes, 2,832 single-family homes, 2 million square feet of business parks, 1.6 million square feet of office and nearly 1 million square feet of retail. Flower Mound Town Council members, Planning & Zoning Commissioners and many nearby residents made it clear during a six-hour work session that they didn’t think the project was a good fit with the rural feel of west Flower Mound, sending Furst “back to the drawing board.” Ventura said some people who are focused on the number of apartments said they preferred that application to the new one, but she thinks this one is better.
“I would be shocked if people really want the Hines application, because they were not happy with it. It included more residential density than the estate zoning allows, and it had industrial usage between the railroads and Hwy 377, which people have made clear they don’t want,” Ventura said, referring to the recent strong opposition to a proposed warehouse park next to Canyon Falls.
Ventura said she thought Wednesday’s meeting went well, and she’s hoping for a good turnout Thursday. The second meeting is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. at Denton County’s Southwest Courthouse in Canyon Falls, 6200 Canyon Falls Drive. Ventura said the Flower Mound Town Council will hold a work session on June 27 to discuss the mixed-use zoning request.
Click here for more information about Flower Mound Ranch.
.png)
.jpg)
