The Trinity Uptown Plan the Trinity Uptown Plan Acknowledgements Table of Contents

THE TRINITY UPTOWN PLAN THE TRINITY UPTOWN PLAN ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS TARRANT REGIONAL WATER DISTRICT CONSULTANTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS George Shannon, President Planning and Economic Development: Vic Henderson, Vice President Gideon Toal Inc, Fort Worth Hal Sparks III, Secretary FORWARD 01 Brian Newby, Board Member Urban Design Jack Stevens, Board Member Bing Thom Architects Inc, Vancouver, Canada Jim Oliver, General Manager Sandy Swinnea, Chief Financial Officer, Engineering Trinity Uptown Project Manager CDM, Fort Worth CITY OF FORT WORTH SPECIAL THANKS Mayor Mike Moncrief Citizens, neighborhood organizations, and 01 HISTORY 05 Wendy Davis, City Council business organizations of Fort Worth and Tarrant Becky Haskin, City Council County who provided guidance throughout the HISTORICAL ROLE OF THE RIVER 06 Jim Lane, City Council entire Trinity River Vision process, beginning in DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE 08 Ralph McCloud, City Council the year 2001. Clyde Picht, City Council Chuck Silcox, City Council John Stevenson, City Council © 2004 Donavan Wheatfall, City Council Gideon Toal Inc and Bing Thom Architects Inc Charles Boswell, City Manager 02 SETTING THE STAGE 11 Marc Ott, Assistant City Manager OBJECTIVES FOR TRINITY UPTOWN 12 16 TARRANT COUNTY SITE ANALYSIS Judge Tom Vandergriff, County Judge SITE PHOTOGRAPHS 18 Commissioner Dionne Bagsby, Precinct 1 URBAN DESIGN CONCEPTS 20 Commissioner Marti VanRavenswaay, Precinct 2 Commissioner Glenn Whitley, Precinct 3 Commissioner J. D. Johnson, Precinct 4 03 THE TRINITY UPTOWN PLAN 23 G.K. Maenius, County Administrator ELEMENTS OF THE PLAN 24 TARRANT COUNTY COLLEGE Waterways Louise Appleman Street Network Public Open Space J. Ardis Bell MD, Board President Randall Canedy Neighborhood Design Guidelines Robert J. McGee, Jr. Land-use, Density and Building Heights Robyn Medina Winnett WATER QUALITY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES 50 Gwen Morrison, PhD Kristin Vandergriff Leonardo De La Garza PhD, Chancellor US ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS COL. John Minahan Mike Mocek, Deputy District Engineer Becky Griffith, Project Manager 04 THE FUTURE 53 STREAMS AND VALLEYS COMMITTEE Dee Kelly, Jr., Chairman IMPLEMENTATION 54 J. D. Granger, Chairman – Trinity Uptown Section Steve Berry, Co-Chair – Trinity River Vision Elaine Petrus, Co-Chair – Trinity River Vision Adelaide Leavens, Executive Director CREDITS 60 FORWARD THE TRINITY UPTOWN PLAN Between 2001 and 2003, a comprehensive plan was developed Generally, the more detailed study area is bound on the north for the entire 88 miles of river and major tributaries in the greater by Northside Drive and the Oakwood Cemetery property, to Fort Worth area. Known as the Trinity River Vision Plan, this the west by the Fort Worth and Western Railroad and Henderson planning process was sponsored by the Tarrant Regional Water Street corridors, to the east by Samuels Avenue and to the District and the Streams and Valleys Committee, in association with south by Belknap Street. In addition, the adjoining districts and the City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, and the US Army Corps of neighborhoods were all evaluated as the context for Trinity Engineers. The planning process involved extensive collaboration Uptown. An important goal of Trinity Uptown is to complement with numerous stakeholders throughout the city. In October 2003, and link all of the adjoining districts and neighborhoods, such the Trinity River Vision Plan was adopted by the City of Fort Worth as the Near Northside neighborhoods, the Stockyards District, and is now included in the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Oakwood Cemetery, Samuels Avenue Neighborhood, Downtown, and the Cultural District. One important segment of the Trinity River Vision Plan is the “Central City Segment”, now called Trinity Uptown. Due to its unique engineering and urban development implications, a more thorough study of this area has been carried out over the past year. This report is designed to summarize the findings and recommendations of this work. Central to the Trinity Uptown Plan is a bypass channel to carry flood waters around an 800 acre area immediately north of downtown Fort Worth. The Trinity Uptown Plan proposes an urban lake, with a publicly accessible waterfront and a mix of urban land uses. These exciting components will focus attention back to the central city and encourage citizens to live, work, play and learn in this urban setting. The area has the potential to attract over 10,000 households and an additional 3,000,000 sq ft of commercial, educational, office, and civic spaces. In today’s dollars, this would add well over $2.1 billion dollars to the local property tax base over a 50 year build-out period. Parks, schools, transportation improvements, environmental restoration, water quality management and other civic amenities are also included in the plan. The Trinity Uptown Plan includes over 12 miles of public waterfront and associated trail systems. To create this waterfront, the Trinity River will be impounded by a hydraulically controlled dam to be located just downstream from Marine Creek. The resulting constant water elevation will allow for boating between the Stockyards area (Marine Creek) and Downtown. The scope of the Trinity Uptown Plan includes all elements of urban redevelopment, including environmental restoration, land-use plans, transportation planning, urban design guidelines, water quality initiatives, engineering requirements, and recommendations for parks, schools, and other community facilities. generalized Trinity Uptown study area HISTORY HISTORICAL ROLE OF THE RIVER 01 DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE section 01 07 HISTORICAL ROLE OF THE RIVER 1880 map of Fort Worth 1891 bird’s eye view of Fort Worth The role of the Trinity River in the history of Fort Worth has been The arrival of the railroads in 1876 helped assure that Fort visual and physical barriers to the river. The Stockyards area Uptown area are now vacant or under-utilized. However, the profound. Indeed, Fort Worth would not have been located Worth would become a major Texas city. Downtown began to also went into difficult economic times when the meat packing Tarrant Regional Water District, along with the Streams and Valleys where it is if not for the river. Before settlement arrived, the Trinity flourish as a business and government center. Meat packing, oil industries decentralized between about 1950 and 1970. Committee, the City of Fort Worth and others, has worked to Uptown area was a native North Texas landscape. The area was a and gas industries, and transportation fueled a growing economy. improve the recreational use of the river through this Trinity major riparian greenbelt with water and dense vegetation along Beautiful homes were constructed along Samuels Avenue, In recent decades, Downtown has reestablished itself as the office, Uptown area. its banks. The forested bluffs and river provided a supply of overlooking the river. commercial, and governmental center. Families and individuals vegetation, fisheries and wild game for Native Americans and wishing to move back to the central city where they can live, work, The potential of the Trinity Uptown concept has been recognized incoming settlers. The Trinity River, along with its adjoining habitat, Like in most American cities between 1940 and 1970, residential play, learn and shop in a vital urban area have created a substantial and augmented by recent actual and planned developments was critical to sustain the wildlife, including the celebrated and retail growth shifted to the suburban areas. Downtown market demand for a residential downtown. The Stockyards have including Pier 1 Headquarters, RadioShack Headquarters, Trinity buffalo herds. In 1849, the military outpost of Fort Worth was and the central city remained a strong office and governmental been redeveloped as an entertainment and restaurant attraction Bluffs, and the Tarrant County College Downtown Campus. established atop the bluffs, approximately where the Tarrant center, but they began to lose much of their residential and retail centered around Western Heritage for both tourism and Tarrant County Courthouse and Heritage Park are located today. In 1853, focus. Fort Worth’s Northside, with its stockyards and meat packing County residents alike. The Streams and Valleys Committee, Throughout Fort Worth’s history, the Trinity River has played a the abandoned fort buildings became the beginning of what is plants, flourished during this period. The Trinity Uptown area working with the City of Fort Worth, the Tarrant Regional Water significant role in the progression of industry, commerce, and now Downtown. For many years the great cattle drives came continued to be primarily industrial, but some of the major District and others, has made great strides in improving the Trinity now central city reinvestment. All the while, the Trinity River has up the Chisholm Trail (Eastern Trail) through Fort Worth to cross industries began to decline and sites became abandoned. During Greenbelt with trails, beautification, and other amenities. The remained one of the strongest features, linking Fort Worth together the Trinity River. this time, the levee system was completed along the Trinity Trinity Uptown portion of the greenbelt remains generally barren and adding to its unique character and environmental quality. River. These levees were built to prevent flooding but resulted in and cut off by the levee system. Much of the lands in the Trinity section 01 09 DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE The following diagrams below illustrate in the same scale the Fort Worth was

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