Summary: If you moved to Parker County for the rural life, prepare for the stampede of urban growth from the east. Just two weeks ago UT Arlington announced its new location in Parker County's Walsh Ranch. This week, reality is setting in. "The area is becoming overcrowded with housing developments."
Latest Update: 21 August, 2024
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Parker County in growth bull's eye. "Fast-growing Parker County prepares for ‘a lot more change’ with arrival of UTA campus."
If you moved to Parker County for the rural life be forewarned, prepare for the stampede of urban growth from the east.
Over the past decade, what was once open tracts of land has seen a lot more development. A housing boom has hit the region, with projects like Walsh and Morningstar building suburban housing developments. Retail development has followed...[3]
Just two weeks ago University of Texas Arlington, UTA, announced its new location in Parker County's Walsh Ranch [1].
And the majority of local news outlets reported celebrations. Even The Community News reported, "Parker County Judge Pat Deen sees the development as a plus toward the economic development of the county," in their equally positive article titled, "Local leaders express enthusiasm for planned UTA campus at Walsh." [2]
This week, reality is setting in. The Fort Worth Report's article "Fast-growing Parker County prepares for ‘a lot more change’ with arrival of UTA campus," [3] focuses on the daily -- and probably life-changing -- reality of urban growth on Willow Park. Excerpts
"The landscape of Parker County — an area known for its open pastures and ranch land — has experienced drastic change over the past decade. And with the August announcement of plans to build a new University of Texas at Arlington campus, the area is set to see more."
... “It’s going to spur a lot of commercial development. If you have students going to school there and they’re living nearby, they need to eat somewhere, they need to shop somewhere, they need to live somewhere. The professors and staff will need to live somewhere.”
"We’re going to attract new businesses. The students that are coming in are going to go work for those businesses, as well as decide to engage in entrepreneurship and create their own,” UTA President Jennifer Cowley told the Report. “Having higher education in your community is just a tremendous asset from an economic development perspective, but it also fosters the social and cultural development of a community.”
Over the past decade, what was once open tracts of land has seen a lot more development. A housing boom has hit the region, with projects like Walsh and Morningstar building suburban housing developments. Retail development has followed...
Due to high mortgage rates, Kimball said, housing inventory in Parker County is the highest it has been in a decade. With headlines trumpeting the arrival of a new campus and lower mortgage rates, he foresees housing developments kicking into higher gear.
Parker County is one of the nation’s fastest growing counties, in terms of percentage population increase from 2021 to 2022. With that growth comes growing pains. News of a 51-acre college campus west of Fort Worth brought both excitement and concern to the forefront of residents’ minds.
But there was also concern about what was once considered a rural area becoming just another Fort Worth suburb.
“I know I am not the only one who has been sad to see all the beautiful ranchland being sold off by the younger generations,” said Paula Rouyre, who works as a controller for a landscape company and has lived in Aledo since 1996.
The area is becoming overcrowded with housing developments, Rouyre said.
Sources and Resources
[1] University of Texas Arlington to build UTA West in Walsh Ranch. Local Fort Worth Report wants your input. Willow Park Civics Blog, posted 08 August 2024
UTA West is planning to open their new 51 acre campus in Walsh Ranch "as early as fall 2028. At its completion the campus will serve more than 10,000 students." And current demographics indicate there will be a large and increasing source of new students.
[2] Local leaders express enthusiasm for planned UTA campus at Walsh, The Community News, 06 August 2024
Economic Development
Parker County Judge Pat Deen sees the development as a plus toward the economic development of the county.
“I think the location that they picked out was really brilliant in going after a market, both to growth in Parker County, but also the massive growth happening on the western quadrant of Fort Worth,” Deen said. “It's really a win-win for both of our counties.”
With a goal of having higher-paying jobs in the county, Deen said the new UTA campus will help with that.
“Job training becomes a key issue in a trained workforce, and that's one of the programs that they're going to be having,” Deen said. In the process of recruiting businesses to the county, “one question we get a lot is, ‘do you have a four year college facility?’ And so that seems to limit us in getting that big ticket company or what we're trying to go after, and so this will help that as well.”
Responding to comments that the proposed campus would add to an already-burdened conduit into Fort Worth, Deen pointed out that by providing quality jobs in Parker County, there might be less need for commutes.
In addition, he said there are resources coming that will help.
[3] Fast-growing Parker County prepares for ‘a lot more change’ with arrival of UTA campus, Fort Worth Report, 18 August 2024
The landscape of Parker County — an area known for its open pastures and ranch land — has experienced drastic change over the past decade. And with the August announcement of plans to build a new University of Texas at Arlington campus, the area is set to see more.
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