As shown in the following plan, the developer of massive 1700-unit Fort Worth, TX housing project proposed connecting to a dead-end neighborhood street causing a massive increase in cut-thru traffic.   The neighborhood street – Clark Road – is a narrow, cul de sac with 36 homes.  Had this proposal been approved traffic volume on Clark Road could have gone from a few hundreds cars a day to more than 37,000!

The cul de sac residents were preparing for a Plan Commission hearing when they retained CEDS. Our Initial Strategy Analysis research showed two key factors:

• The developer had other options for access, and
• The Plan Commission had a history of denying approval for similar projects.

These two factors prompted us to urge the cul de sac residents to testify at the hearing using a letter drafted by CEDS.

But rather than calling for denial we recommended that our clients ask the Commission to:

• Require the developer to use an alternate access,
• Require an emergency-services only gate, and to
• Continue the hearing so the residents could work with the developer to find a mutually satisfactory solution.

This testimony prompted the Plan Commission to grant the continuance and sent strong signals to the developer that he needed to find a way to resolve cul de sac resident concerns. The developer then submitted the following revised plan showing NO connection to Clark Road!

A clean victory for Clark Road residents. A Thank You note from our clients to CEDS president Richard Klein follows.

For further detail on how CEDS can help visit the Making Neighborhood Streets Safer webpage or contact us at 410-654-3021 or help@ceds.org.