It was standing room only during Tuesday鈥檚 public hearing for the Craver Ranch special district, which will bring a master-planned development about the size of Corinth to rural far north Denton near Ray Roberts Lake.
Dozens of neighbors and concerned citizens gathered in opposition to what some called the largest development the Denton City Council has approved.
A council majority voted to approve all three requests by Craver Ranch developer Old Prosper Partners for amendments to the city鈥檚 2040 comprehensive plan and mobility plan and a zoning change from rural agricultural to planned development.
The project will be in an ecologically diverse area of the Cross Timbers known as Green Valley, which includes a flood plain and wildlife corridor. The development is now poised to bring about 7,000 single-family homes, apartments and town homes, commercial retail, municipal facilities, schools and parks to an area where farmers and ranchers live and work the land that they say struggles to offer enough water from a depleted aquifer.
Mayor Gerard Hudspeth and council members Jill Jester, Joe Holland, Vicki Byrd and Brandon Chase McGee voted to approve, saying that Denton needs single-family housing, that development is coming due to regional trends, as staff pointed out, and that it would be better to work with the developers to find a common ground.
鈥淚鈥檓 making a decision of what I think is in the best interest of our city, which is we need more homes,鈥� Jester said. 鈥淭hat is what it says across the board as far as our needs. I don鈥檛 think that by stopping this today, that it鈥檚 going to stop the development from coming. I mean, this is where the roads are going.鈥�
Two dozen people spoke 鈥� some of whom said they weren鈥檛 against development but simply this one 鈥� while 16 people submitted cards in opposition. Several in support of saving the Green Valley area.
鈥淚 hate coming to these [meetings] because it鈥檚 not that I don鈥檛 care. It鈥檚 because I leave thinking that you don鈥檛,鈥� said the final speaker, who had been through public input for the only for a council majority to ignore it. 鈥淛ust once, I want to come to one of these, and I want to leave just believing that you guys care about us. Just once. I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 going to be today, but all these people are here because they do.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e at the level that I was at four years ago. Just let them leave thinking that you guys care. There鈥檚 not one person who has said anything positive 鈥� except for one,鈥� the person said, referring to the developer鈥檚 representative.
Speaker after speaker pleaded with council members to vote against or table the project until next year, when the Texas Department of Transportation finally decides where a new freeway, the , . They stressed several reasons, including that the narrow farm-to-market roads couldn鈥檛 support the development, that a downstream flooding study needs to be done to measure the impact of paving 2,500 acres, and that the 鈥渓eapfrog鈥� development brings suburban sprawl, endangers wildlife and goes against Denton鈥檚 2040 Comprehensive Land Use Plan.
The 2040 plan and extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, should see 鈥渃ontiguous, staged growth which is fiscally and environmentally sound, reduces fragmentation and sprawl, discourages premature development and conserves the city鈥檚 future growing room.鈥�
Nearby neighbors said they only recently learned about the project and didn鈥檛 know anything about the developer鈥檚 two neighborhood meetings.
One neighbor, the granddaughter of Kenneth Craver, the founder of Craver Ranch, said she lives directly across from the property and gave Kirk Wilson, the developer鈥檚 consultant, his first tour of the ranch.
鈥業 never heard of these meetings,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 have neighbors that have never heard of these meetings. There were a few people I understand from the last [planning and zoning] meeting that actually got invited. I鈥檓 across the street.鈥�
District 2 council member Brian Beck, , was the only council member to vote against all three requests, though he applauded the developer鈥檚 regional approach to the project, which will see them connecting to the city鈥檚 future wastewater infrastructure.
Beck pointed out that they don鈥檛 know what the impacts would be on the surrounding community and that the project isn鈥檛 agreeing with Goal 1 of the comprehensive plan, the final implications for infrastructure and the capital costs and utility costs. They haven鈥檛 addressed the roadway impact fees or impacts on the drainage and wastewater at Clear Creek, Beck said, adding that there is a reason the city doesn鈥檛 do 鈥渓eapfrog鈥� development, because 鈥渋t costs extra to the city鈥� and 鈥渨ill not pay for itself.鈥�
鈥淚 represent these folks directly, and even for the ones in the ETJ, I feel like it鈥檚 my duty in the community to represent them in their interactions with the city,鈥� Beck said. 鈥淭hey operate in good faith. They come before us, and I think they鈥檙e making their will really clear.鈥�
Mayor Pro Tem Suzi Rumohr voted against the comprehensive plan amendment and the zoning change request.
Rumohr said she struggled with the financial analysis of the development and couldn鈥檛 tell if the city would have a long-term net surplus or a net deficit, which would require raising taxes or fees on residents. She worried about whether the development would generate enough revenue in the future to fund the periodic replacement of about $400 million in public infrastructure.
The developer鈥檚 representative, Alexa Knight, indicated that the $5.1 billion project would bring in $1.2 billion in tax revenue, with the development鈥檚 first of 25 phases set to begin in 2028.
Each additional phase will continue yearly until 2046.
鈥淵ou know, this is our crystal ball,鈥� Knight said. 鈥淲hat this represents is basically 400 single-family homes a year. So it鈥檚 again, not a tremendous amount of development all at once, and it provides a variety of residential products. It鈥檚 that mix, that product mix that you all are looking for in order to encourage people to stay within that community and just not move on or move out of Denton.鈥�
Rumohr said she cared about fiscal sustainability.
鈥淭his is my last point, Mayor, I care about giving our community a say in how our city develops,鈥� Rumohr said. 鈥淚t is not my city. It is our city. Our comprehensive plan is one of the prime, or at least I thought it was one of the primary ways, that we get input from residents and understand the vision of the residents that live here, and this proposal goes against the core vision of our comprehensive plan.鈥�
Acknowledging that he had heard neighbors鈥� concerns, McGee compared Denton鈥檚 situation to Austin, which he said boomed faster than residents were prepared and led to residents being bought out of their homes. He said he didn鈥檛 want it to happen to people in Denton.
鈥淔or me, one of the beginning principles that I was taught of business [was] the idea of supply and demand,鈥� McGee said. 鈥淚鈥檓 of the opinion that when there is more housing available, it drives down the price of housing for everybody. 鈥� By virtue of the next 20 years of this project, if it is completed at buildout, it will provide more housing options for people who are coming here, thereby allowing many of us already here to stay in our homes. People like me, single people who can鈥檛 afford a whole lot of land, who can鈥檛 afford a whole lot of house.
鈥淢y vote today is protecting Dentonites.鈥�