Bedford Residents Oppose New Higher Density ‘Lifestyle Residential’ Land Use

Multifamily housing is under fire throughout North Texas, and Bedford is the latest municipality to join the fight against a new land use called “lifestyle residential.”

The city is crafting a master plan that calls for this new development pattern, or land use overlay on 60 acres of school district-owned land, but residents of the Glenbrook, Rollingwood, and Oak Valley neighborhoods in Bedford fear “lifestyle residential” is a fancy term for apartments. 

A joint meeting of the Bedford City Council and Planning and Zoning Commission is set for 6 p.m. Aug. 27.  Mayor Dan Cogan said officials will discuss the city’s master plan “to hammer out all the details before it is voted on at a later date.”

‘Keep Our City Quant’

Meanwhile, Bedford residents Melody Chang and Jean Freeman are circling the wagons ahead of the public hearing and organized a private, 120-member Facebook group to inform neighbors about what’s going down.

Freeman spoke to CandysDirt.com last week about the proposal that she believes could turn a park and greenspace into multifamily development.

“My husband and I moved to Bedford 18 years ago because it offered a quiet atmosphere with a small town feel, away from the rat race,” Freeman said. “Many of our neighbors would like to keep our city quaint. Meadow Park Action Committee is not opposed to development, we are just opposed to high density that often increases crime and requires more city services. I believe the city looks at it as an opportunity to increase city tax revenue.”

The connection of higher density with crime has been debated. Research suggests that crime rates in multifamily housing developments are often influenced more by the socioeconomic conditions of the residents than the density of the housing itself, but more study is needed.

Developing Bedford’s Meadows District

The land in question is a 60-acre park owned by the Hurst Euless Bedford school district. The Meadows District master plan aims to maximize the use of Meadow Park located at the intersection of Harwood Road and Central Drive near 183 and Highway 121.

The current three-page document proposes a “highly-amenitized” neighborhood with a mix of lifestyle residential and natural amenities for the City of Bedford that connects it to nearby commercial centers.

“The mix of Lifestyle Residential and natural amenities sets the tone for this district as one that offers a mix of housing as suitable for teachers as it does for doctors,” the plan states. 

What Is Lifestyle Residential?

The Bedford resident Freeman said the veiled promise of “missing middle housing” is a contradiction to the Bedford City Council’s repeated stance against additional multifamily development. 

“Lifestyle Residential allows for 20 to 30 units per acre, two to three stories tall, zero lot lines, and accessory dwelling units, typically 500 square feet or less that can include tiny homes,” she said.

“Basically this is multifamily under a different name,” Freeman believes.

The land owned by HEB ISD is valued at about $20 million, according to former Bedford Planning and Zoning Commissioner Terry Smith. He wrote in the resident Facebook group that the term lifestyle residential may be city planner jargon.

“P&Z did not come up with the Lifestyle Residential terminology,” Smith said. “Staff members of the City who have worked on this project did. Not sure why. I argued that our City did not need so many different categories of development when I was on P&Z. I think this Lifestyle Residential may be a hot, new classification among City master plan architects.” 

What’s Wrong With a Little Density? 

Developers love density because they can pack in more housing units per lot, thus bringing in more revenue, the resident Chang said. 

“It’s also great for governments to increase tax revenue,” she said. “Density sounds good on paper to urban planners, but at what cost to the people and their quality of life?”

Chang further addressed the assertion that greater density will increase housing supply and ease prices to make housing more affordable. If that sounds familiar, we’ve heard it before during the numerous public hearings on the ForwardDallas comprehensive land use plan. 

“From a pure supply-and-demand perspective this makes sense, but the housing market is much more complex, and this is one-dimensional thinking,” Chang said. “Once density limitations are removed, Meadow Park will immediately increase in value because there is more profit to be made. Think about it.  If the zoning is changed prior to the sale of the land, a developer would pay a premium to get the development started, rendering any affordability gains as negligible at best.”

In the end, a high-density development would leave Bedford with a lower quality housing stock “potentially consisting of undesirable properties that eventually become rentals — three-story condos, ADUs, and tiny homes that families cannot comfortably live in,” Chang added. 

The neighborhood activist said she is hopeful that city leaders and developers will listen to Bedford residents and “build the type of housing that fits in and enhances the surrounding neighborhoods.” 

Disclaimer: CandysDirt.com contributing writer Joy Donovan is a Bedford City Council member but was not involved in the production of this story.