Dean Ranch Development
The Aledo City Council on Thursday evening approved a development agreement that it said will transform the eastern entry into Parker County and add substantially to the community’s tax base within the next five years.
By way of the council’s action, 238 acres along Bailey Ranch Road and Farm-to-Market Road 1187 have now been approved for development for the Dean Ranch development, according to Aledo community standards, and will be voluntarily annexed into the city.
Dean Ranch is an 1,825-acre, mixed-use, master-planned development that will be located along the border of the cities of Fort Worth and Aledo.
D.R. Horton and other homebuilders plan to build about 325 single-family homes and up to 100 townhomes in the Aledo portion of the project, which will also feature a variety of community amenities and at least 35 acres of new commercial development.
Levens Capital Partners LLC is the master project developer.
“This is a major win for Aledo,” Aledo Mayor Nick Stanley says in a statement. “Not only will we add high-quality, single-family homes on substantial lots and well-designed townhomes, but there will also be a private amenity center, public parks, trails, green space and substantial new commercial development, all of which adds to our tax base.
“Most importantly, we get to decide what this gateway to our community will look like, by having a portion of the development actually within Aledo and distinctively shaped by the design standards in this carefully negotiated agreement. We know our residents may have concerns about this project, so it is important to understand that the City Council and staff are already taking purposeful steps to plan for and address the dynamic growth happening in and near our community.”
Infrastructure improvements on streets, sidewalks, drainage and utilities are projected to cost upwards of $41 million for the development and will be financed in part by the developer by way of a Public Improvement District.
This is the first PID created in the city of Aledo. Such districts are a financing tool commonly used by Texas cities to provide specific types of improvements or maintenance within a designated area.
Policymakers said expenses will be “without burden to Aledo taxpayers.”
This all follows more than a year of planning and negotiation efforts between the city of Aledo and the developer. It also follows the Aledo City Council’s action, announced in June 2021, to approve a Joint Resolution and Boundary Agreement between the city of Fort Worth and city of Aledo, through which a portion of the 238 acres in Fort Worth’s extraterritorial jurisdiction was released to Aledo’s ETJ.
This was an important step in enabling the city of Aledo to negotiate and eventually enforce appropriate design standards for the Aledo-facing side of the Dean Ranch development.