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Residents say the hundreds of trees at 2417 Wilkes Drive make up some of the last remaining Cross Timbers forest in Colleyville, which has developed rapidly over the past 20 years. (Haley Samsel | Fort Worth Report)
” data-medium-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/IMG_0992-scaled.jpg?fit=300%2C225&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/IMG_0992-scaled.jpg?fit=780%2C585&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button”>Nearly two years ago, Colleyville City Council members heard a proposal for the Bluffs at Colleyville for the first time. On Tuesday night, they conducted their final hearing on the new housing development — with only two council members remaining from that first February 2023 vote. After three rejections, WillowTree Custom Homes’ fourth development proposal was unanimously approved amid continued opposition from residents who signed petitions and spoke against the zoning change.The ordinance approved by City Council will change WillowTree’s rezoning of 2417 Wilkes Drive and 6900 Pool Road from agricultural and single-family estate to single-family residential. The luxury subdivision on the edge of Colleyville and Grapevine will contain nine homes on a 14-acre site rather than the 19 homes originally proposed in early 2023. Two acres will be dedicated to the city’s use for tree preservation and future trails — a concession to neighbors who were concerned about losing one of the area’s last remaining patches of native forest. “We are happy and pleased to finally have The Bluffs at Colleyville approved,” Curtis Young of Sage Group, who represented the developer, said by email. “I give the Mayor and City Council a lot of credit for seeing the big picture and doing what’s best for the entire City of Colleyville instead of catering to a select few who wanted an undeveloped open space park behind their homes at the expense of the property owner, or worse, the taxpaying citizens of Colleyville.”City Council members agreed that the development will benefit the city, with several noting that they have to look out for the best interest of all residents rather than just the “very passionate” neighbors. “It’s taken a long time and we’ve gotten really to the best possible plan,” council member Tim Raine said during the meeting. “We have to look at it from 20,(000) or 30,000 people, not from several hundred. We have to make a decision that’s in the best long-term interest of the city, not just a few hundred people.”Colleyville City Council member Tim Raine speaks during a June 5, 2024, council meeting. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)Throughout the 20 months of back-and-forth, residents voiced their opposition to the project, citing the need to preserve the trees and have the land be used as a green space. Tim Waterworth, a leader of the Save Colleyville Trees campaign who unsuccessfully ran for City Council in May, told the Report he isn’t surprised by Tuesday’s decision, but disappointed that City Manager Jerry Ducay and Mayor Bobby Lindamood chose not to engage with the nonprofit Trust for Public Land in discussing how to potentially purchase and conserve green spaces. “I believe most citizens understand Colleyville is nearly fully developed, and there won’t be many more opportunities to conserve meaningful tracts of natural and native green spaces,” Waterworth said. “The city spent over $8 million on the towers and is about to spend nearly $7 million on Heroes Park, an outdoor stage. Citizens’ surveys have long been very clear that parks and trails are a much higher priority — after all, they can be used 365 days a year.”However, Lindamood said during the meeting that city officials have talked with Trust for Public Land but couldn’t come to an agreement with the offer the nonprofit provided.Residents opposed to the project have expressed how these trees make up some of the last remaining Cross Timbers in Colleyville, which were historically used by early settlers for fuel and timber, according to the city’s website. Council members were skeptical of whether these trees are actually historic.“I just want to reiterate that looking at the 1970s aerial, seeing how desolate that area actually was and just knowing that they were not trees that were planted in the pioneer days and old historic trees, that they are actually reasonably new and not as historic as some people, especially in the neighborhood, might feel they are,” council member Mark Alphonso said during the meeting.After doing research on post oak and blackjack oak trees — the trees found in Cross Timbers forests — Ducay said he doubts the trees on the property are historical because some of them are short enough to be identified as “immature.”Colleyville City Manager Jerry Ducay, left, and Mayor Bobby Lindamood listen to public comment during a June 4, 2024, meeting. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)Waterworth called Ducay’s statement “truly bizarre” as it contradicts the city’s urban forestry code and what is published on the city’s website about the importance of the Eastern Cross Timbers in the city’s history and culture.“The site is filled with oak trees of the Eastern Cross Timbers variety, which are old-growth and multigenerational, regenerating without irrigation for centuries,” Waterworth said. “It is a loss for the citizens of Colleyville.”Young said the project will proceed immediately with detailed design of the infrastructure improvements, and once completed, those plans will be submitted for city review to make sure they meet all of the applicable standards, as well as all city ordinances and best building practices. He said he expects the first homes to be under construction in a year’s time.Now, Colleyville will receive a “unique and very special” neighborhood of homes overlooking Big Bear Creek, he added.“There will be nothing else like it in North Texas, and we have already received calls from interested people wanting to be a part of it,” Young said. Kevin Vu is a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and contributor to the Fort Worth Report.