Designing a future city with vibrant spaces

Designing a future city with vibrant spaces

Published on May 19, 2023

Fort Worth's Preservation & Design division in the Development Services Department provides leadership for the physical design of the city. The division offers guidance to property owners and developers throughout the development process to ensure the logical organization of our future city with the creation of vibrant public spaces that cultivate public life.

Why it matters: The Preservation & Design team oversees the City's Preservation Program, Design Districts and Form-Based Code districts with the shared goal of rehabilitating and creating high-quality buildings that contribute to a dynamic public realm. This division also manages the Historic & Cultural Landmarks Commission, the Urban Design Commission, and the Downtown Design Review Board.

The big picture: The team also aims to educate the public about historic resources through training events, online resources and planning efforts such as the Preservation Plan and the citywide Historic Resources Survey. Part of the program's toolbox for preserving the City's history includes designations for districts and individual landmarks, review of projects to historic resources and administering the Historic site Tax Exemption. Local historic districts and other information can be found online.

Go deeper: Recently, the Development Services Department held a training for historic commissioners on April 15 that was open to other historic commissions around the state.

• The department hired a national nonprofit, National Alliance of Preservation Commissions (NAPC), that does a specialized training called a CAMP (Commission Assistance Mentoring Program).
• There were three expert trainers who spent the day at the Ella Mae Shamblee Library in the historic Terrell Heights neighborhood.
• More than 40 participants from Tarrant County, Plano, Waxahachie, Arlington and local neighborhood groups attended to learn about Preservation Law, Design Review and Infill, Community Outreach and Preservation Benefits and Incentives.

The bottom line: The Historic Preservation team works to preserve the historic character and fabric of the City through local designations, reviews and planning efforts like the City-Wide Historic Resources Survey update and the Preservation Plan update.

• The Preservation Plan guides efforts of the program for the future and the historic resources survey will help to accomplish goals in the plan by focusing on specific neighborhoods to be assessed for historic integrity.
• Neighborhoods or individual property owners may use this survey information to pursue designation as a local district or Historic and Cultural Landmark.
• This process requires an application, research on the historic significance of the property or area and then it must go before the Historic and Cultural Landmarks Commission and receive final approval from City Council.

Photo:The Development Services Department recently held a training for historic commissioners that was open to other historic commissions around the state.

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