gc
16 September 2003, 01:02 AM
Fort Worth council to hear development recommendations
By Anna M. Tinsley - Star-Telegram Staff Writer
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/local/6778577.htm
FORT WORTH - Bathrooms, streets, sidewalks, parks, customer service.
These are among the areas of concern taken up by a 43-member task force searching for ways to make development _ and redevelopment _ easier in Fort Worth.
The task force came up with a slew of recommendations that range from making some blocks shorter, and more pedestrian-friendly, to making the entire development process more customer-friendly.
"The proposals simplify and streamline regulations," City Manager Gary Jackson said. "The result is we're able to encourage development and redevelopment at a greater pace, which enhances the value and quality of neighborhoods."
The group's broad-ranging recommendations, in the works for months, will be presented to the City Council in a meeting at 3 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 1000 Throckmorton St.
Jackson said he appointed the task force because some regulations impede development in some parts of the cities and he believed the entire development process needed to be overhauled.
So task force members _ who represent interests in the city ranging from neighborhoods to remodelers _ began reviewing all facets of the development process in Fort Worth.
They focused on construction codes, subdivision and street development standards, zoning regulations and process improvement.
"The development process is probably the biggest problem in getting things through to the city," said Brandy O'Quinn, a task force member and president of Historic Camp Bowie Inc., a public improvement district. "For years, I've heard that Fort Worth is one of the worst, or most complicated cities, to go through the process.
"It takes more time here to get anything _ from a building permit to an inspection _ and time is money to the development community."
So the task force recommends streamlining and simplifying customer service, so customers don't have to go throughout the development department for various services, emphasizing a customer-friendly approach, and developing checklists that outline project information and details customers need.
These are among some of the most crucial recommended changes, Jackson said.
"The more user-friendly we can be, the more quality redevelopment we can attract," Jackson said. "There will be faster turnaround and better service at the counter for the individual homeowner as well as for someone submitting a multimillion-dollar plan."
But recommendations also touched on other areas, from streets to bathrooms to parks.
Among them:
* Changing "water closet," or bathroom, design requirements that now exceed Texas Accessibility Standards for clearance. The local standards are more stringent than necessary to ensure accessibility.
* Amending the construction code that requires faucets to provide both hot and cold water and doesn't allow buildings, such as schools, to provide only one water temperature.
* Reducing block lengths in some areas with mixed use and commercial zoning, to make some new neighborhoods more walkable. Instead of requiring blocks to be between 500 and 1,320 feet, they could be 200 to 1,000 feet in these areas, which generally are urban villages or mixed-use growth centers.
* Allowing larger cul-de-sacs to give more design flexibility.
* Reducing street widths on collector, or four-lane undivided streets, to slow down traffic, encourage walking and better move traffic.
* Allowing more on-street, head-in parking in front of some stores.
* Allowing some parks to be developed on land smaller than the five-acre minimum size now required for neighborhood parks.
* Reducing or simplifying parking requirements for office, commercial buildings, retail, walk-up businesses, restaurants, schools, places of worship and some residences.
* Allowing private recreation facilities in all single-family districts.
* Amending landscaping requirements to encourage planting trees in parkways to create pedestrian buffers and attractive streetscapes. Existing zoning regulations do not encourage parkway landscaping.
Council members will submit any changes they favor to the zoning or plan commissions, which need to study the proposals. The council could vote on the proposals by December.
"Many developers have complained in regards to the difficulties they find when they try to do something with development with the city," said Byron de Sousa, a task force member and chairman of the city Plan Commission.
"It's important to evaluate these things," he said. "These are recommendations only."
www.fortworthgov.org
By Anna M. Tinsley - Star-Telegram Staff Writer
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/local/6778577.htm
FORT WORTH - Bathrooms, streets, sidewalks, parks, customer service.
These are among the areas of concern taken up by a 43-member task force searching for ways to make development _ and redevelopment _ easier in Fort Worth.
The task force came up with a slew of recommendations that range from making some blocks shorter, and more pedestrian-friendly, to making the entire development process more customer-friendly.
"The proposals simplify and streamline regulations," City Manager Gary Jackson said. "The result is we're able to encourage development and redevelopment at a greater pace, which enhances the value and quality of neighborhoods."
The group's broad-ranging recommendations, in the works for months, will be presented to the City Council in a meeting at 3 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 1000 Throckmorton St.
Jackson said he appointed the task force because some regulations impede development in some parts of the cities and he believed the entire development process needed to be overhauled.
So task force members _ who represent interests in the city ranging from neighborhoods to remodelers _ began reviewing all facets of the development process in Fort Worth.
They focused on construction codes, subdivision and street development standards, zoning regulations and process improvement.
"The development process is probably the biggest problem in getting things through to the city," said Brandy O'Quinn, a task force member and president of Historic Camp Bowie Inc., a public improvement district. "For years, I've heard that Fort Worth is one of the worst, or most complicated cities, to go through the process.
"It takes more time here to get anything _ from a building permit to an inspection _ and time is money to the development community."
So the task force recommends streamlining and simplifying customer service, so customers don't have to go throughout the development department for various services, emphasizing a customer-friendly approach, and developing checklists that outline project information and details customers need.
These are among some of the most crucial recommended changes, Jackson said.
"The more user-friendly we can be, the more quality redevelopment we can attract," Jackson said. "There will be faster turnaround and better service at the counter for the individual homeowner as well as for someone submitting a multimillion-dollar plan."
But recommendations also touched on other areas, from streets to bathrooms to parks.
Among them:
* Changing "water closet," or bathroom, design requirements that now exceed Texas Accessibility Standards for clearance. The local standards are more stringent than necessary to ensure accessibility.
* Amending the construction code that requires faucets to provide both hot and cold water and doesn't allow buildings, such as schools, to provide only one water temperature.
* Reducing block lengths in some areas with mixed use and commercial zoning, to make some new neighborhoods more walkable. Instead of requiring blocks to be between 500 and 1,320 feet, they could be 200 to 1,000 feet in these areas, which generally are urban villages or mixed-use growth centers.
* Allowing larger cul-de-sacs to give more design flexibility.
* Reducing street widths on collector, or four-lane undivided streets, to slow down traffic, encourage walking and better move traffic.
* Allowing more on-street, head-in parking in front of some stores.
* Allowing some parks to be developed on land smaller than the five-acre minimum size now required for neighborhood parks.
* Reducing or simplifying parking requirements for office, commercial buildings, retail, walk-up businesses, restaurants, schools, places of worship and some residences.
* Allowing private recreation facilities in all single-family districts.
* Amending landscaping requirements to encourage planting trees in parkways to create pedestrian buffers and attractive streetscapes. Existing zoning regulations do not encourage parkway landscaping.
Council members will submit any changes they favor to the zoning or plan commissions, which need to study the proposals. The council could vote on the proposals by December.
"Many developers have complained in regards to the difficulties they find when they try to do something with development with the city," said Byron de Sousa, a task force member and chairman of the city Plan Commission.
"It's important to evaluate these things," he said. "These are recommendations only."
www.fortworthgov.org