Sprouts by Kenny Eliason for Unsplash.
With an unanimous vote of approval from the horseshoe in Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Sprouts has officially received the go-ahead to join our neighborhood.
A Sprouts grocery store has been in talks for the corner of Fort Worth Avenue and South Hampton Road for nearly two years, but it has not faced an easy path to approval.
A rezoning application for the grocery store was denied without prejudice by the City Plan Commission in August 2022 after the commission said the planned development did not reflect the existing urban form of the corner.
After several months of community meetings, the developer for the site, Vista Property Co., reworked the design plans for the site to better reflect community feedback.
The final design that was approved by the city council includes a drive through, a restaurant space, a contiguous green space and the Sprouts grocery store. Landscaping, walking paths and bioswales are also consistent with desires voiced by the community.
“I’ve never worked with a group of neighbors who have been so competent, compassionate and passionate,” Rob Baldwin, a designer who worked on the planned development, told the city council.
Planned Development courtesy of the City of Dallas.
Jeff Herrington, a representative of Stevens Park Estates and a member of the Fort Worth Avenue Development Group’s founding board, shared the results of a neighborhood survey with the city council to show how widespread neighborhood approval for the development is.
“More residents filled out the Sprouts survey than I’ve had in any year of budget surveys for D1, which shows how passionate people are about seeing something positive come to this site,” said City Council member Chad West.
Representatives from the Fort Worth Avenue Development Group, the Stevens Park Estates Neighborhood, the El Tivoli Neighborhood and the Stevens Park Village Neighborhood spoke in favor of the development at the meeting.
City Council members from around the horseshoe congratulated West for the level of community involvement that resulted in the plan.
“This was not an easy case but it was one done with excellence,” said Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Omar Narvaez, who represents District 6.
