Local residents satisfied
Becky Brandenburg
Staff Reporter

Neighbors say that, lately, TCU has transformed its image from block bully to team player.

Two years ago, TCU butted heads with Bluebonnet Hills neighbors over the construction of the Lupton Baseball Stadium and the bright stadium lighting they were forced to face each evening — game or no game — and that they weren’t consulted in the planning.

This past summer neighbors protested when TCU did not included them in plans to rezone a large portion of the neighborhood bordering the southern and eastern edges of the university.

Concessions were made after several meetings with the neighborhood associations. The agreements led to rezoning the 60 acres between Cantey Street and Berry Street for high intensity use, allowing buildings up to 60-feet tall unlimited residential units per acre with commercial spaces. The area north of Cantey was rezoned for low intensity uses, allowing buildings up to three stories in height, 40 to 60 residential units per acre and ground level parking.

When residents complained about street parking problems, the Fort Worth Police Department took notice. After evaluating emergency vehicle access in the surrounding neighborhood streets, the Traffic Division added no parking signs for limited periods to one side of most of the streets surrounding the campus at the beginning of the fall semester.

TCU announced plans to break ground in the spring on a massive parking garage and residential and commercial development to relieve parking and near-campus housing needs. The mixed-use structure will be bordered by Berry Street, Greene Avenue, Bowie Street and Waits Avenue. Plans show ground level businesses fronting Berry Street, Greene Avenue and Waits Avenue.

In fiscal year 1998, the university purchased $22,203,456 worth of mostly commercial properties in the surrounding neighborhood.

Each year since, TCU has added properties outside the borders of campus — a combined certified value of $74,596,772, according to the Tarrant Appraisal District database. In fiscal year 2003, an addition of $6,226,380 worth of property was added to the university-included commercial properties along Berry Street and McCart Avenue, multi-family residences on Kent Drive and Bellaire Drive North, and the single resident units of Bellaire House Condominiums.

Jim Johnson, president of the Bluebonnet Hills Neighborhood Association and a 1983 graduate of TCU, said the university has come a long way in its relationship with neighbors.

“The zoning change forced us to work together. We’ve come to an understanding on what we could all live with and what’s most important,” Johnson said.

Keri Ryan, president of Bluebonnet Place Neighborhood Association, said she has always received good responses in dealing with TCU about neighborhood issues.

Ryan said they are very supportive of TCU’s mixed-use development project and the emphasis on a pedestrian atmosphere.

“TCU has always been willing to listen and work us,” Ryan said. “We have many students living in our neighborhood and there have been occasional problems with parties and trash. But, we have not had Bluebonnet Hill’s lighting problems or the parking problems that Frisco Heights has had.”

Marsh Cowdin, president of Frisco Heights Neighborhood Association, said signage has helped relieve some of the street parking and security issues.

“We gave a little, they gave a little,” Cowdin said.

The Cowdins have lived in the 2900 block of Merida Street since 1965.

“I’m not out to get anybody, I just want to live in my neighborhood peacefully,” she said.

Don Mills, vice chancellor for student affairs, said the neighborhood surrounding the campus is one of TCU’s enduring strengths and that the associations are committed to both high quality neighborhoods and a high quality university.

“Our working together ensures, I think, that all of us will be able to meet our objectives,” Mills said.