Tyler Radbourne wants you to forget everything you think you know about country living in Flower Mound. Then he wants you to close your eyes and imagine that you’re living in a nice home on a productive farm within arms reach of your backyard. Fresh tomatoes are growing on nearby trellises, and just up ahead is a neighbor selling organic honey by the pound and acres upon acres of rolling hills, orchards, and scenic views.
As you continue walking, you stop in at the local event center that serves as a wedding venue and restaurant on the weekends to visit with a few friends and have coffee while the kids fish and play near the pond. And on your way back, you veer off into seven miles of beautiful trails.
“You can bring a basket with you because you can keep anything you can reach along the sides of the trail — tomatoes, sugar snap peas, leaf lettuce, and fresh herbs,” Radbourne said. “You could say, ‘You know what, honey? I feel like having arugula tonight.’ And then you grab a handful of it because it’s right there. And the best part is that you’re not the one having to do all the gardening.
“I’ve always envisioned living in a place like this. It’s a holistic community centered around family, community, health, decentralized energy, and agriculture.”
Radbourne swears that having access to an intelligently planned country community like this is possible in Flower Mound.
He’s aptly named it Eden Ranch, and all that’s left is to receive the proverbial green light from the town.
“I have not had a single person tell me this isn’t a good idea — even people who some feel can be the harshest of critics know this is what we’ve been waiting for,” he said. “This would put Flower Mound on the map as a city to emulate — a bright light on a hill because there isn’t a community like this in Texas — definitely not in North Texas. And the canvas we have is incredible.”
If the city approves Radbourne’s plan with zero changes, Eden Ranch is expected to have approximately 200-plus country home units on roughly 350 acres of currently undeveloped ranch land between Red Rock Lane and Shiloh Road. The proposed site plan for this gated community includes lot sizes ranging from one-half acre to one acre, with a few larger agricultural lots and roughly 150 acres of orchards, productive agriculture, and community space that produces healthy and organic local food for the community.
Eden Ranch will also include 30 to 50 “Legacy” cottage lots designed for active seniors (55 and up) nestled among orchards, passive and agricultural open space, parks, a public trail system with an equestrian trail connection, a vineyard and winery, an activity center, and a market.
Radbourne is passionate that a successful community should intentionally plan for seniors. In his words, Flower Mound has a crisis looming with a massive housing shortage for seniors.
“Where are we supposed to move my folks?” he asked. The only option is for them to move to another city, more than 30 minutes away. It’s frankly heartbreaking, but we can solve it if we work together. We are not talking about traditional high-density or high rises; I’m talking about designated spaces within the community they’ve lived in and helped build — sites that are truly beautiful and close to children and grandchildren. It’s called multigenerational living, where grandparents can walk to see their children at school or daycare and be closer to their families. This aspect truly makes Eden unique and what I think needs to be incorporated into the master plan in the future. If not, we will lose our greatest asset and the heartbeat of our community.”
With Eden Ranch, there are also plans for a community wellness center, a daycare, a school, and an arboretum and recycling and education center that generates its own off-grid power. The property has countless trees already, and the plan is to plant thousands more.
There will also be roadside wildflowers like bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes, native trees and plants, and productive orchards that act as a buffer along the property’s perimeter — all meant to improve the country feel or view rather than take away from it.
Radbourne has a lengthy background in real estate construction, oil and gas, recycling, and environmental and regenerative agriculture businesses. He has always been a visionary. He also owns EcoStream, a leading recycling company raising environmental standards in the global oil and gas waste industry. His mission for Eden Development is to buck the traditional trend of expensive and high-density master-planned communities by creating communities that harken back to simpler times. He purchased the 350 acres a few years ago and believes in the Eden Ranch project so much that he, his wife, Julia, their two young boys (Ethan and Luke), and his extended family have already moved to the property.
“I always wanted to find a place with a country feel and rolling hills, like where I grew up,” Radbourne said. “But in Dallas, most developers take a beautiful piece of property, scrape it flat, and then build a bunch of right-angled streets while packing in as many homes as possible. They rarely work with the land — with geography. And that’s disappointing to me. A few years ago, I was driving down Cross Timbers Road and thought, ‘Wow, that’s a beautiful piece of property … nice rolling hills, lots of trees, water, country feel, and still close to the airport and the rest of the Metroplex.’ There was a ‘For Sale’ sign, and I immediately called to see if I could buy it.”
Last December, Radbourne purchased the ranch, cattle, eight llamas, two donkeys, and an old deer from the previous owner.
“The city has already designated this as a conservation area. They want to retain a country feel. We say we’re a country town, so let’s intelligently plan a community that works in synergy with nature, guarantees a country environment and feel, and is a blessing to the community.”
Eden Ranch still needs to go before the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, and there are likely existing zoning hurdles to overcome. But Radbourne believes it’s only a matter of the community understanding the vision and rallying support to raise the standard of what conservation and country mean.
“How could the city have planned for this type of community standard? No one had done it before to this level — not even close,” he said. “I hope the community will embrace our vision of what country living is and adopt standards that allow and promote it.
“All I’m saying is that there’s a better way, and I’m optimistic that if we work with the community and share the vision of what’s possible with Eden honestly and clearly, the community will show its support for Eden Ranch. That is the Texas spirit — a light on a hill that raises the standard of what is possible.”
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