Turtle Creek Association Takes Matters Into Its Own Hands to Beautify Dallas’ Front Yard

One of the most popular home tours in Dallas is coming up this fall, and organizers at the Turtle Creek Association are excited about letting residents behind the curtain of the city’s most fabulous mansions while raising money to beautify the jewel of their neighborhood.

That jewel? Turtle Creek.

J.D. Trueblood, president and CEO of Turtle Creek Association, was hired in 2019 with the stipulation that the organization would prioritize dredging, creek bank stabilization, and clearing recurring trash infiltrating the creek, a Dallas treasure that makes the area some of the most coveted real estate in town. 

“Turtle Creek is a prestigious area,” Trueblood said. “90 acres of forest — Avondale to the north, Maple to the south — and this beautiful creek running through it. If we don’t take care of it, who will?”

You have the [Rosewood] Mansion, and the Four Seasons is coming in, says Trueblood, along with a blending of upcoming new commercial and residential growth. There are two new towers proposed on the corner of Maple Avenue and Turtle Creek Boulevard. The Hanover Company, a Houston developer, plans a $170 million apartment tower at 2525 Turtle Creek Boulevard, formerly Turtle Creek Gardens.

“We need to be able to enjoy this creek,” says Trueblood. “And If we want to attract businesses into this area, we need to keep it up.”

To that end, Trueblood launched a public education campaign, sought private funding, partnered with the city’s Park and Recreation and Public Works departments, and did one more really important thing: got the trash cleared.

People forget that Turtle Creek is a flood reservoir, says Trueblood. When the city gets a lot of rain, rubbish from U.S. 75 is inadvertently washed into the creek, choking, clogging and marring it.

“I put a man in a boat,” he said, referring to contracting with Aqua Clean & Restoration Solutions, who spend several days a week in a kayak pulling trash out of Turtle Creek. 

For about $4,100 per month, the kayak treks from Avondale to a spot near Fairmont Street, where Turtle Creek “gets buried with debris that funnels into the Trinity River,” Trueblood said. 

“It was a year ago in June when I first got a man in a boat,” Trueblood says. “This would be only a short-term solution, but little short-term fixes are starting to have an impact.”

It’s just one example of how TCA, formed 35 years ago, goes above and beyond to protect and preserve one of the most pristine neighborhoods in the city.

“It’s a beautiful urban oasis,” Trueblood said. “Unofficially, Turtle Creek is Dallas’ front yard.”

Big Dreams, Big Plans

Architect William Kessler envisioned the Turtle Creek corridor as a “premier urban greenspace and residential neighborhood” when the area was designed in 1911. 

Trueblood has rallied residents and private donors to embrace that mission. A five-year strategic plan identifies TCA’s goals and serves as an example to other cities and neighborhoods. But the plan is in need of an update, and Lyda Hill Philanthropies is providing grant funding for that venture.

Trueblood explained that instead of raising money to simply plant flowers, TCA seeks major donors, grants, and donations from neighbors to address clearing massive amounts of trash and runoff in the creek. 

“All of this is done through public donations,” he said. “We’ve created an incredibly strong partnership with Park and Rec and Public Works. Even some of the medians on Turtle Creek Boulevard are considered part of the park. We have an agreement to landscape and beautify them. We created a separate contract with Public Works.”

Carpenter & Co., along with Ross Perot Jr.’s company Hillwood, are developing a 240-room Four Seasons Turtle Creek across the street from Hillwood headquarters. 

Therefore, some big-name investors also are interested in the health of the creek. Hillwood hired engineers to determine what to do with the outflow. 

“Every time it rains, whatever is on the surface of Central Expressway flushes into Turtle Creek,” Trueblood explained. 

There are 13 massive “catch basins” that retain some of the water and filter it, but it happens rarely because the rain volume has to reach a certain threshold for it to hit the basins, Trueblood explained. 

“How do we create a system that filters the water before it hits the creek?” he said. “Well, Hillwood is paying for the engineers to help us find that solution.” 

The Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Kalita Humphreys Theater also is working on a master plan and is partnering with TCA to ensure there’s no overlap with the Turtle Creek plan update. 

“It’s laser-focused, No. 1, on the health of the creek,” Trueblood said of the TCA master plan. “We’re measuring the creek and the sediment. Part of the creek is eroding. It’s eventually going to impact Turtle Creek Boulevard if we don’t do something. Dredging, bank stabilization, and recurring trash are the issues we want to address.” 

Turtle Creek Tour of Homes

The Turtle Creek Tour of Homes, chaired by our own Candy Evans, is set for Oct. 8 and will feature four of the most stunning mansions in town. A benefit reception will be held at Perot Companies-Turtle Creek. 

“We are working diligently to make it even more special than it was last year,” Trueblood said. 

The Tour of Homes gives residents a chance to take a peek inside some of the finest and most expensive homes in Dallas. Insight into those homes and interviews with the owners will be featured on CandysDirt.com in the coming weeks. Last year’s Turtle Creek Association Tour of Homes raised $200,000. 

The funds raised will be wrapped into TCA’s capital campaign. Association leaders hope to present a package to the city of Dallas for its 2024 bond election. 

“That’s our Plan A,” Trueblood said. “There are a lot of other headline-making projects competing for that money.”

In the meantime, TCA continues to “think differently,” as it has since making the decision in 2020 to not let a global pandemic get in the way of its efforts to embark on a major ecological project to improve the neighborhood.

“I said the only way I’d take this job is if we were going to focus on enhancing the creek,” Trueblood said. “I want to further the true mission statement of protecting, enhancing, and preserving the creek. We’ve got this jewel, and we’re going to fight for it.”