HomeMy WebLinkAboutOPE Archive - 09/28/2015 - 21.7 - Chimney Rock 5.12a.12Chimney Rock:
Product of a Municipal Symposium in a North Texas Town
Location: Cross Timbers Road, Town of Flower Mound, TX
Developer: Willard R. Baker, Dallas
Site Designer: Randall Arendt, FRTPI, Greener Prospects, Brunswick, Maine
Development Period: 2002 to 2007
The concept for this project arose at a symposium on conservation subdivision design organized by the
town of Flower Mound (population 67,825), whose manager and planning staff wanted to spur interest in
this development approach to help preserve the rural character of this community, located 30 miles
northwest of Dallas. Fortunately for Flower Mound, Willard Baker, an experienced developer from
Dallas, was impressed by the programs presented by the author and by Robert Engstrom, the developer of
the Fields of St. Croix conservation subdivision near Minneapolis (another case study in this section).
Flower Mound’s conservation design ordinance requires that half the land be dedicated as permanent
open space and that lots be halved in area from the town’s previous two-acre minimum lot size. (One-acre
lots were the smallest that could be allowed in this unsewered part of the municipality.) Incentives in the
ordinance include expedited permit review, permit fee waivers, reduced parkland dedication fees,
reduction in street pavement width, and rebate of agricultural valuation rollback taxes. As a result of the
symposium, Baker asked the author to walk the land and help him identify an open space system to
design around and create value for the 48 one-acre lots permitted on this approximately 102-acre property
under the new ordinance.
Figure 21-7.1: The layout preserves three significant features of the site: the rural viewshed from Cross Timbers Road, the long,
scenic meadow through the middle, and the pond and most of the wooded habitat. Single loading the meadow road was
possible by reducing lot widths throughout the development by about 28 feet, very easy to do when conventional lots are 150-
200 feet wide. Source: GoogleEarth
Flexibility in the dimensional requirements allowed street alignments to follow contours and preserve the
larger hardwood trees, including many post oaks, a native specie prized in this region. Three principal
areas for conservation were identified early on in the design process: the pond and surrounding
woodlands, the long meadow running through the middle, and the public viewshed along Cross Timbers
Road (Farm-to-Market Route 1171). Views into the conservation land were deliberately kept open by
“single-loading” one-third of the principal street, with lots on one side only. Many developers often reject
this approach, erroneously assuming it increases costs. However, since the lots were sized to be trimmer
and less-wide, while still being large enough to support upscale residences, single-loading did not
increase costs.
A stone chimney from the original farmstead was relocated to the conservation area along Cross Timbers
Road, and a large ten-acre “conservancy lot” was created on the opposite side of the entrance, which
represented an innovative way of protecting rural character while also providing the client with a high-
value lot that is restricted from further division and development. Hiking and equestrian trails will
connect the property with land owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers to the west, and with a more
extensive municipal trail network. The cattle water supply, a rectangular pond that had greatly silted in,
was dredged, enlarged, given a more natural shape, and graded gradually around the edges. Dredge
material was spread across a former worked-out pasture, and irises were planted along the edge of the
pond, which was restocked with bass and catfish. After the cattle were removed, native grasses such as
brushy bluestem recolonized some of the open space. A trail is planned to connect the open space in
Chimney Rock to the town’s trail system, via a link across adjoining land owned by the Corps of
Engineers (McMahon, 2010).
From a perspective of a dozen years, the town has learned several lessons. One is the need to require a
clear demarcation between houselots and conservation land, to reduce the tendency of some residents to
extend their yards into the open space. For example, Wisconsin’s largest developer of conservation
subdivisions, Siepmann Realty, prevents this type of encroachment by installing cedar split-rail fencing
along all boundaries of the open space it conserves. Over the years the town’s original skepticism about
allowing trails in conservation areas, which it had originally wanted to leave as undisturbed as possible,
has waned. In recent years a growing understanding has emerged that designated trails created by the
developer do not compromise the environment, but simply enable neighborhood residents to more fully
enjoy the open space.
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Figure 21-7.2: Large individual oak trees were designed around and retained beginning at the entryway (left) and continuing
through the middle of the development (right). (RA both)
Figure 21-7.3: Two views of the long central meadow, as seen from the road bordering it. (RA)
The approval process for Chimney Rock, the first conservation subdivision in Texas, ran smoothly
because staff and officials welcomed the proposal. Sales velocity of the lots was above-average initially,
but later slowed a bit due to a less-robust economy. However, the project’s financial success persuaded
the developer to engage the author’s services to design a second conservation subdivision in town (The
Sanctuary). He was able to quickly sell that one in its entirety to a national builder (Toll Brothers) soon
after receiving municipal approval, and realized a rapid return on his investment. Such success convinced
Baker to favor this design approach in future projects.
Figure 21-7.4: The conservation land around the pond retains a deliberately natural, unmanicured edge, with interesting stone
formations preserved nearby. (RA)