City Council sides with neighborhood blocking east Fort Worth warehouse project

The Fort Worth city council voted unanimously Tuesday to deny a zoning change that would have converted 57 acres of east Fort Worth farmland into an industrial warehouse.

Residents expressed their concerns about truck traffic, pollution, and the health impacts of industrial development on the majority Black and Brown community.

The property sits on either side of the 5100 and 5200 blocks of Parker Henderson Road, south of U.S. 287.

It has been operated as a family farm since 1900, but owner James McCulley said his children won’t be able to continue that legacy.

He argued that changing the zoning to allow for industrial use would bring jobs and boost city tax revenue, which could then be used to address the nearby Echo Park neighborhood’s concerns about road maintenance and traffic.

However, members of the community showed up in force to say they don’t want this project in their neighborhood.

The Echo Heights neighborhood is bordered by trucking companies and industrial lots, said Chris Jones, who lives next door to the proposed project.

He said the 57-acre farm land acts as a buffer for the neighborhood, and allowing it to be rezoned for industry would disrupt the area’s community feel.

Krystal Wilbourn grew up in the neighborhood and attended W.M. Green Elementary, which sits across from the property.

She worried about the impact of pollution from exhaust and said school children will be put at risk having to share roads with tractor trailers.

John MacFarlane, chair of the Greater Fort Worth Sierra Club, called the proposed rezoning a classic case of environmental racism.

He pointed out that the students who attend W.M. Green Elementary are predominantly from Black and Brown communities, and said this case would never have been considered if it had been proposed in majority white neighborhoods like Tanglewood or Westcliff.

He said the nearby community is already overburdened with high rates of respiratory diseases like asthma, which he attributed to exhaust fumes from nearby trucking and industry.

Mayor Pro Tem Gyna Bivens acknowledged McCulley’s desire to develop the property, but said her focus needs to be on doing the least amount of harm to the east Fort Worth community.

She said the area has already suffered enough from the impact of truck traffic tearing up neighborhood roads.

Mayor Mattie Parker noted the western half of the property has been designated for open space as part of the city’s master plan.

She called for the city to explore the possibility of purchasing that portion for conservation, and work with McCulley to find another use that better fits the community’s needs.