Flower Mound - Highland Village - Argyle | December 2022

Civil engineering company McAdams will lay out recommended uses for the city’s remaining undeveloped land in the comprehensive plan. The plan lays out a proposal for expanding and improving the city’s trail system. undeveloped land existing trails proposed trails Highland Village Opportunity areas and proposed trails

Northern Gateway Size: 35.4 acres Recommended uses: oce, retail, restaurant, medium-density residential, hospitality, entertainment

The city and McAdams have tried to use community input when drafting the new comprehensive plan. Community Engagement

Highway Corridor Size: 17.5 acres Recommended uses: medium-density residential, oce, entertainment, hospitality, retail, restaurant

Feb. 23, 2022 community open house 140 attendees

South Gateway Size: 22.6 acres Recommended uses: residential

NORTHWOOD DR.

Our Village, Our Vision online engagement 100 participants March 3, 2022 community breakfast update 40 attendees April-May 2022 Met with focus groups (teens, trail enthusiasts)

LEWISVILLE LAKE

35E

proposed bike trails

CASTLEWOOD BLVD.

Marketplace Size: 2.5 acres Recommended uses: retail, restaurant, oce South Corridor Size: 7.5 acres Recommended uses: oce, retail, restaurant

DOUBLETREE DR.

Public statistical survey 602 surveys returned

Nov. 15, 2022 community open house 89 attendees

HIGHLAND FOREST DR.

South Gateway Size: 17.9 acres Recommended uses: retail, restaurant, o ce

SOURCE: CITY OF HIGHLAND VILLAGE COMMUNITY IMPACT

SOURCES: CITY OF HIGHLAND VILLAGE, MCADAMSCOMMUNITY IMPACT

407

11 to express their concerns over the drafted plan. One resident was Scott Caldwell, who lives near opportunity area No. 1—the 35.4-acre area in the north- west corner of the city. Caldwell, and several of his neighbors in attendance, expressed concern over the plan allow- ing high-density residential uses, which would allow multifamily units. “I’m not anti-development; I’m anti- bad development that ends up as a tax burden for the city,” Caldwell said at the Oct. 11 meeting. The city and McAdams hosted about 200 residents at previous open houses, and received over 600 survey responses and feedback from around 100 residents online throughout the process. But after the Oct. 11 coun- cil meeting and other community

interactions, Jaworski and the coun- cil decided to slow down the process, scheduling another open house for Nov. 15. “What we realized is we kind of lost control of the narrative in this conver- sation,” Jaworski said. “We discussed tapping the brakes and giving the public an opportunity to see the latest updates to the plan, and just pulling the curtain back on why we’re having these conversations.” McAdams also used feedback to change some aspects of the draft. Some of the changes included removing “high-density residential” as a recommended land use on any of the opportunity areas, dening termi- nology more clearly and removing spe- cic, hypothetical layouts. “We’re not trying to nail down any

specic layout on these; we’re just try- ing to show a list of the best uses that will create the highest tax revenue for the city,” Rivera said. Jaworski said the Nov. 15 open house, which had 89 residents attend, was “really positive.” “There were some people that came that hadn’t even been a part of the con- versation up to now,” Jaworski said. “There were some people that came that were very skeptical of what this all involves and I think they had con- structive conversations with the peo- ple from McAdams as well as those of us in the city.” Enhancing the trails Along with the opportunity area uses, the update includes enhance- ments to the city’s parks and trail

CONTINUED FROM 1

topography? What utilities do we have, and will they need to be extended?” said Randi Rivera, McAdams director of planning and entitlement. “We had to take all of these conditions into con- sideration rst, and then there was a market assessment done about what type of demand was in the market- place for certain uses.” The council was expected to vote on the comprehensive plan update during its Oct. 25 meeting, but the draft was met with backlash from the commu- nity, largely due to the recommended land uses in certain opportunity areas. ‘Tapping the brakes’ Residents packed into the Highland Village Council Chambers on Oct.

COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM