Colleyville Approves Luxury Homes Plan After Three Rejections Over Trees

After three denied rezoning applications, developers with WillowTree Custom Homes were granted approval this month by the Colleyville Planning and Zoning Commission to build nine estate homes on 14 acres previously designated for agricultural use. 

Developers promised at the July 8 P&Z meeting that the new application for The Bluffs development reflects the “Rolls Royce of plans.” 

Houses vs. Trees in Colleyville: Trees Win Against WillowTree Custom Homes For Third Time

Opposing residents say if Colleyville City Council approves the Bluffs project, developers will be destroying an urban forest on the site at 6900 Pool Road and 2417 Wilkes Drive. The current proposal offers the same number of homes as a previous iteration and the site plan layout appears to be the same, said resident Tim Waterworth, who created the site SaveColleyvilleTrees.com. 

“If this is a very similar zoning change to the prior request, why should the outcome be different?” Waterworth wrote in an email to neighbors. “The landowner bought ag. He can develop ag.” 

Watch the July 8 Colleyville Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. 

Compatibility With Comprehensive Land Use Plan

During a staff presentation, Colleyville officials said WillowTree developers have offered to donate two acres to the city and have submitted a required urban forestry plan. About 17% of the immediate area surrounding the site has registered opposition to the proposal. 

 Curtis Young of Sage Group Inc., representing the developers, said it’s important to consider that Colleyville’s future land use map calls for residential use on this site, not open space. 

As we’ve seen recently in Dallas, the subject of how closely a plan commission should or does follow its comprehensive land use plan is widely debated. 

“The comprehensive plan requires of us that we protect the character and integrity of the existing neighborhoods next to us by promoting future development that is compatible with the surrounding development and patterns in development character,” Young said.

A Change of Plans

The original plan included 19 homes on lot sizes up to 20,000 square feet. The proposed density was 1.37 lots per acre and open space was above 20 percent.

“Unfortunately, this did not get approved,” Young said. 

Developers went back to the drawing board and removed five lots, making the lot sizes larger and addressing concerns about building on a slope. That plan also got denied. 

The third iteration of the plan offered just nine one-acre lots. The plan was approved by P&Z and denied by the City Council in a split vote in December. 

Some residents attempted to initiate a Community Land Trust to purchase some of the acreage, and when that failed, the developers returned. 

“I believe we’ve done what we said we would do, and we are back with what we believe to be the Rolls Royce of plans in Colleyville,” Young said. “I don’t believe in the past 40 years there’s been a plan with [such large lots[ and this kind of thing that would bring $3 [million] to $5 million homes to Colleyville.” 

The Colleyville Tree Ordinance requires that at least 50 percent of the trees be retained during development, to which the developers agreed. 

The rezoning request could go before the Colleyville City Council as early as Aug. 6.