PID PROGRESS

The East Lancaster Avenue Public Improvement District exists between Riverside Drive and East Loop 820.  Since going fully online Valentine’s Day 2020, the District has made significant progress toward its goals:

2020

  • We deployed a private security firm (Texas Industrial Security) to provide security seven days a week.

  • The private security service established relationships with the Fort Worth Police East Division beat officers, neighborhood patrol officers, and the homeless liaison officer.

  • Though impacted by COVID, a relationship was established with Code Compliance, which will yield results over time.

  • The PID was featured on an NBC 5 (KXAS) report https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/fort-worths-east-lancaster-avenue-getting-boost-from-new-business-tax/2449921/

  • Security patrol encounters with vagrants and transients dropped by approximately 70%. Initially, these encounters numbered in excess of 500 per week, and by the end of the year were down in the range of 150-175 per week.

  • The overall crime rate dropped 29.6% from 2019, per Fort Worth Police crime statistics. For context, the city saw a 2.8% dip in crime.

  • There were 553 crimes in the District which rose to the level of a police report for 2020, an average of just 1.5 crime reports per day.

2021

 

  • Texas Industrial Security’s patrol efforts continued to drive the number of weekly contacts with vagrants lower.  By year end, those contacts had dropped an astonishing 90% (less than 65-75 contacts per week) from their highs in early 2020.

  • In May, the PID paid for the installation of eight Flock license plate reading cameras along East Lancaster Avenue, tied to the FWPD’s Real-Time Crime Center.  The police know when a person of interest passes certain locations, and in which direction.  This has allowed them to respond and make felony warrant arrests, recover stolen vehicles, and even locate missing persons.  This technology recently helped locate two suspects wanted in a Las Vegas area Home Depot shooting as they were driving on East Lancaster Avenue just days later.

  • Relationships with the Fort Worth Police East Division continued to be strong, and there was great improvement within Central Division as well, under the direction of Commander Amy Ladd.

  • The Reby Cary Youth Library opened in August, and was featured in a local television report Discover DFW: Reby Cary Youth Library – CBS Dallas / Fort Worth (cbslocal.com).  This is the only library in north Texas specifically for kids, and is pulling in parents and children from quite a distance outside the city.

  • About a dozen new community businesses opened along the corridor, including a 10,000 square foot health clinic, a pharmacy, a coffee shop, an ice cream shop, a new barbeque restaurant, and a hardware store.  Other businesses renovated or applied fresh coats of paint.  These are subtle changes, but are signs of optimism among property owners.

  • Trinity Metro and the city of Fort Worth neared completion of a transit-oriented design plan for East Lancaster Avenue, which will serve as a template for potential future mass transit options, and should help guide redevelopment.  The plan will be released in early 2022.

2022

 

  • In February, Trinity Metro released its draft Transit-Oriented Design Plan for East Lancaster Avenue.  This plan details how a new mass transit option can benefit existing residents and businesses with new housing, retail, and service options, how it can maximize the potential for mixed-use development, and how it can help guide growth and economic development in the corridor.  This plan will be further refined as it moves into Phase II in early 2023.  See https://www.advancingeastlancaster.com/. 

  • In June, Michael Morris, Director of Transportation for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, announced Lancaster 2.0, which will produce a curb-to-curb rebuilding of the street from downtown to the Arlington city limit.  A preferred route and mode will be recommended and brought to the Fort Worth City Council for approval by summer 2023.  These steps will then lead to the engineered design for the roadway.  Construction is forecast to start in 2026.  Partners in this venture will be the city of Fort Worth, Trinity Metro, Tarrant County, TXDOT, and the federal government.  See https://fortworthreport.org/2022/06/02/this-is-lancasters-time-revitalization-project-gets-182-million-green-light/.   

  • Texas Industrial Security’s patrol efforts have kept vagrancy numbers low, though there have been some challenges.  This was in part due to coordination with the Fort Worth Police East and Central Divisions and the HOPE Team (an outreach effort by Fort Worth Police to identify the needs of those who find themselves without shelter).  QR codes were added to the security patrol vehicles, which can help direct people to homeless services.

  • The East Lancaster Public Improvement District worked with the Urban Land Institute and the city of Fort Worth in organizing a bus tour for pioneering developers along the East Lancaster Avenue and East Rosedale Street commercial corridors in October.  The participants saw the redevelopment potential of these two streets, viewed progress of the Stop Six Choice Neighborhood construction, and heard about plans for street reconstruction and more new housing that are set to begin in the next few years.

2023

 

  • The city of Fort Worth began efforts to produce a design for a rebuilt East Lancaster Avenue while the funding continued to be assembled by the North Central Texas Council of Governments.  WFAA/Channel 8 produced a story about these efforts, which will culminate in a city council-recommended design in early 2024.  TXDOT will then begin detailed engineering work.  See https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/tarrant-county/lancaster-upgrades-revitalization-fort-worth-development-growth/287-1202c827-07de-4e28-aa38-184bef7d36ab

  • The city of Fort Worth added two new city council districts, resulting in a new district representing the majority of the Public Improvement District.  Voters elected Jeanette Martinez to the position.

  • Palladium USA announced plans to build a 243-unit luxury mixed-income residential community in the 4900 block of East Lancaster Avenue.  The developer closely collaborated with the Central Meadowbrook Neighborhood Association to arrive at a final design. Palladium City Skyline will be the first new private construction project in twenty years within the Public Improvement District, and represents an important milestone in the corridor’s return to vitality.

  • The East Lancaster Avenue Public Improvement District continues to have a positive impact on the corridor.  Private security patrols operate seven days a week to add a visual deterrent, aid businesses in keeping their property safe, and reduce issues with vagrancy.  Additionally, cameras tied to the FWPD Real-Time Crime Center have been instrumental in locating stolen cars and vehicles associated with felony warrants.  Several commercial real estate firms were given tours of the street to showcase potential areas for redevelopment.