Fort Worth: Part 2. DR Horton's Dirty Drainage Deed

On December 19, 2017, I took this picture and sent it to the City of Fort Worth's Storm Water Management Division.....if you look at your water bill, we pay some pretty hefty fees for storm water drainage fees.

This is a photo of one of DR Horton's "retaining" walls located on the same property where DR Horton violated their Urban Forestry permit and destroyed over 100 mature, protected trees.  The "retaining" walls are supposedly designed to promote effective drainage of storm water.  I think the engineers may have underestimated the power of water.

Despite the recently cleaned out drainage ditches on Randol Mill Road, the storm water drainage overflowed DR Horton's "detention" pond and covered Randol Mill Road which made it impossible for motorists to tell where the road ended and the drainage ditches began. Very dangerous and a huge liability for the City of Fort Worth.

This is DR Horton's solution to their silt/sediment control problem.  Rocks.

What might be even more disturbing than DR Horton's solution to their storm water drainage problem is Fort Worth Storm Water Management Division's Assistant Director Greg Simmons' responses to my questions.

Were you aware DR Horton violated their Urban Forestry permit and removed more trees than they were allowed?   "Yes.  But, again, my e-mail wasn't about the permit."

How is it even possible for developers to obtain permits AFTER they have already done their dirty deed?  Who do I need to speak with about putting a stop to this?  "With regard to drainage issues, situations where a property owner starts work without a permit are handled on a case-by-case basis with the goal of ensuring the ultimate goal of our regulations still is met even though they got ahead of themselves.  I am not in a position to comment on how other Departments deal with such situations but I suspect it is similar."

Did DR Horton's drainage plan reflect that they would be removing all of the trees they did?  "Our drainage requirements, which are based on the regional standards, don't regulate tree removal and a developer's plan for leaving or removing trees has no bearing on their ability to meet drainage standards. The drainage plan is for us to verify that they have measures to mitigate additional flood or erosion risk regardless of the status of the tree stand, and there are ways to meet those standards with or without trees."

What will the City do to require the developer to reconcile the differences in the plan they submitted to the City but deviated from?  "The issues with their Urban Forestry Permit are not under my cognizance but I assume that the proceedings of the upcoming Urban Design Commission regarding this issue will answer this question."

Strike 2 for DR Horton.....but they'll probably get a walk....FW is the umpire.  

Fort Worth: DR Horton's dirty tree deed.

Acres of protected oak trees....

destroyed by DR Horton in the race to build more homes in Fort Worth.  

DR Horton is the greedy developer in this case.  Ironically,  DR Horton named this development Trinity Oaks, perhaps as a memorial to the over 100 trees DR Horton bulldozed down....in violation of their Urban Forestry permit.   

DR Horton destroyed more trees than they were permitted and got busted when a concerned citizen called Urban Forestry and complained (and no, it wasn't me).  And in the typical Fort Worth Way fashion, the developer appeared before the Urban Design Commission in November 2017, after-the-fact, asking for a waiver of the requirement to preserve 25% of the existing canopy of trees they already destroyed.   

Fortunately for the citizens of Fort Worth who still value trees, the Urban Design Commission, expressed displeasure with what DR Horton did and asked a lot of questions DR Horton could not answer.  The case was passed as a result and is reset for this Thursday, January 18, 2018 at 10 AM.  

What DR Horton did was unacceptable and we need to send a very clear message to DR Horton and other developers that destroying our trees won't be tolerated and there will be a consequence!  DR Horton got greedy and cleared that land with the hopes of cramming as many single-family homes as they could on that property. 

If you are able to attend the Urban Design Commission meeting this Thursday at 10 AM, please do.  If you cannot attend, please send an email to the Urban Design Commission letting them know you support what they do and share their displeasure with DR Horton.  Ask the Urban Design Commission to require DR Horton to plant, at the very least, 5 times the deficiency as an effort to mitigate the loss of  those 100s of mature, protected trees.  It won't bring the trees back but it might teach DR Horton a valuable lesson by requiring them to give up some of their precious lot space to plant trees.  

Please send your email to laura.voltmann@fortworthtexas.gov and reference case # UFC 16-070.