Tuesday, January 16, 2018

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.


8 comments:

BHorton2 said...

I have posted a notice regarding the Thursday meeting in Nextdoor and plan to be there myself, Mary.

Xenophore said...

Do we know who, if anyone, at DR Horton should receive complaints about this?

Mary Kelleher said...

Bob....thanks for helping with this! I know how you feel about trees!

Xenophore....I have no idea who to talk with about this at DR Horton but I sure would appreciate it if you would send an email to the Urban Design Commission via laura.voltmann@fortworthtexas.gov

Thanks!

Xenophore said...

E-mail is sent. Kepp up the good work!

Mary Kelleher said...

Thank you so much for your support!

TQuezada said...

I have sent an e-mail.

Anonymous said...

I have sent an e-mail.

Mary Kelleher said...

Thank you TQuezada and Anonymous!