Fort Worth officials, the Tarrant Regional Water District and real estate firm Seco Ventures are in talks about creating a public improvement district to oversee maintenance of the Panther Island project.
The creation of a public improvement district would focus on maintaining the island’s publicly accessible waterways, streets, security and landscaping, Assistant City Manager Dana Burghdoff said during an Oct. 24 Trinity River Vision Authority board meeting. The agency coordinates activity among government agencies and performs risk assessments of the $1.16 billion federal flood control project.
When completed in 2032, the Central City flood control project would create a 1.5-mile, man-made bypass channel rerouting the Trinity River and creating the appearance of an island between downtown Fort Worth and the Northside neighborhood. The water district is handling local elements of the flood control project and working closely with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, while the city of Fort Worth has taken the lead on economic development efforts along the expected riverfront property.
The majority of the proposed public improvement district’s budget would go toward cleaning up debris from canals, providing flood protection and maintaining water quality. Officials are currently working on a draft of petitions to present to private landowners in the Panther Island sector and secure their signatures. One petition would be based on the value of property on the island and the other on area ownership.
Most of the land in the Panther Island project is owned by government agencies, namely the water district itself. Since the project’s inception in the early 2000s, the water district has acquired hundreds of acres of former industrial land near the bypass channel and has spent upward of $43 million on cleanup efforts.
Officials are aiming to get the petitions, spearheaded by Seco, on the agenda for an April City Council meeting, where council members will either approve or deny the creation of the district. If approved, the district would be adopted into the 2026 fiscal year. The budget and funding for the district would be available Oct. 1, 2026.
The water district extended its contract with consultant HR&A Advisors to “flesh out” the idea of a proposed governing structure to steward Panther Island’s development, according to Burghdoff and Kate Beck, program director for the water district. The public improvement district idea arose after the consulting firm presented a new economic development road map for Panther Island in March.
Leaders of the Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth have expressed interest in the improvement district to act as a “property owner-driven entity” to advocate for those living on and utilizing the island, Beck said Thursday.
City officials are also exploring updates to the 2006 form-based code for the Panther Island project.
Form-based codes address design standards of a district, including heights of buildings, types of streets, visual representations of building facades and the form and mass of buildings in relation to one another. The Stockyards, for example, approved a form-based code in 2017 to maintain historical design elements in the area.
Major changes in the code would include the addition of overlays, or peripheral zones, that will ensure that developers who break ground on the periphery of Panther Island do not interfere with construction of the bypass channel or other matters related to the flood control project.
The proposed peripheral zones would include the area where University Drive and Jacksboro Highway intersect. Officials still intend on closing off six lanes on University Drive so the roadway can be elevated to 10 to 15 feet to allow floodwaters to flow underneath the street.
Overlays were also proposed for northeast areas, bordering Samuels Avenue and Northside Drive, and southwest of the original Panther Island design, off Parkview Drive.
A recommendation from consultant Livable Plans and Codes led Fort Worth and water district officials to minimize block sizes and foster the envisioned urban development pattern for the island once the existing flood levee system is removed.
Officials will continue to review how two-thirds of the island will be residentially zoned, taking into consideration restrictions related to office and hotel heights. The proposed code update will include potentially raising the eight-story building height limit to a maximum of 20 stories, Beck said.
Water district and city officials plan to hold a two-day workshop on the code update in January. The updated code is expected to be formally adopted by late spring or early summer of next year after a draft has been reviewed by stakeholders, including the Urban Design Commission, City Council, Zoning Commission, Trinity River Vision Authority board members and the water district board, Beck said.
Nicole Lopez is the environmental reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at [email protected].
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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