By Scott Nishimura snishimura@bizpress.net
Fort Worth officials are ironing out the details of a proposed temporary zoning overlay for the historic Stockyards that the city’s Zoning Commission will consider July 9.
The expected rezoning follows the recent announcement of a controversial $175 million mixed-use development in the Stockyards by Fort Worth’s Hickman family – long the Stockyards’ largest property owner – and its partner, Majestic Realty. The rezoning is meant to help protect the cultural integrity of the Stockyards while the city works on a permanent new set of form-based codes that would replace the temporary overlay. Skeptics fear the Hickman-Majestic plan could jeopardize the Stockyards’ fragile historic flavor.
The form-based codes will address building location and orientation; building height; parking and driveways, architectural standards; pedestrian lighting; landscaping; streets, roadsides, public parks and plazas, and public art; street type and standards; and design review. The city staff is proposing to change the current “K” heavy industrial zoning to planned development/mixed use-2. Any proposed development would require a site plan.
Mixed use-2 would allow several light industrial uses already allowed under the current zoning.
The new zoning would allow residential; K zoning does not.
The staff is proposing to include more than a dozen uses that are permitted in K zoning and that it feels would be appropriate for the Stockyards, including blacksmithing or wagon shop; brewery, distillery or winery; circus; feed store with no processing or milling; new and used furniture sales with outside storage and display; livestock auction; manufacture of basket material, bicycles, boots and shoes, boxes, and caskets; outdoor sales kiosks; passenger rail station; railroad tracks; stables and commercial, riding, boarding or rodeo arena; vehicle sales; transient vendor; and veterinary clinic with outdoor kennels.
The staff on Friday decided to remove “gambling, including bingo” from the list of permissible uses, because it’s not currently permissible in K, Dana Burghdoff, the city’s deputy planning director, said.
The staff developed the list of additional permissible uses from its own study and a list submitted by the Hickman-Majestic partnership, Burghdoff said.
The lists were virtually the same, she said. One proposed addition from the Majestic-Hickman list – a drive-in movie theater – isn’t included in the staff proposal, she said.
The City Council is scheduled to consider the zoning change on July 15.