Action North Members,



Last week, 10 of us were able to take an in-depth tour of the Veridian Project with Elvio Bruni and Sue Blankenship of Huffines Communities. You may recall that Veridian is the huge development north of the Trinity River between Collins and SH 360. My observations follow.



The development encompasses ~ 2,500 acres, including the Riverview Golf Course which Huffines has also acquired. It really is quite large, more so than you realize just driving along Collins beside the property. Stated another way, the property is just shy of 4 square miles!



When built out, current plans call for 3,500 single family units, 400 townhomes, and 900 apartments. ALL of the apartments will be in conjunction with the Mixed Use Retail/Apartment development along Collins. Total retail space is planned to eventually be ~ 300,000 sq ft and will include restaurants as well as stores.



Ingress/egress will be accomplished by two entrances on Collins, two entrances connecting to Trinity Blvd, and at least one connection to SH360 sort of over the golf course. As you probably know, Ballpark Way extension has been removed from the Arlington Thoroughfare Plan permanently.



The lake that you can see from Collins is currently at ~ 440’ above sea level and a depth of 8 or 9 feet. There will be further dredging to remove quite a lot of soil (1.9 million cubic yds) from the lakes for further fill on the more remote parts of the property. In total, about 4 million additional cubic yards will be moved. There has already been, counting all past excavation, filling, etc., been 15-16 million cubic yards of dirt rearranged. The plan is to raise the lake level to ~ 445’ elevation. That combination will end up with the lake having a depth of ~ 16’ which will improve the water quality as cattails and algae will be suppressed. The part of the property that you can currently see from Collins is at its planned level of ~ 463’ above sea level. Sloping banks to the lake will not exceed 5 degrees – gentle. An interesting point is that no wetlands will be affected as there really aren’t any. There is some sort of trash weeds on the edge of the large lake, but no EPA defined wetlands. However, on the south side of the lake, near the River Legacy Trail, wetlands will be created. Some of the smaller bodies of water from earlier excavations will go away, primarily some “finger” canals as they just aren’t practical in this plan.


The first part of the development is going to be single family homes along the north edge of the lake. That lake will have ~ 274 acres of surface area when all excavation and filling is complete. “Horizontal” preparation (grading, streets, sewers, water mains, etc.) is planned to be completed by the spring of 2010 with selling of lots to builders at that time who will begin the build out. These homes will have a street between them and the lake so that the public is not cut off from viewing the lake from within the property. The first house is planned to be complete in 2011; all homes will have alleys – no front trash or garages; and that repeat interior designs are limited to not closer than every 5 homes and lots will be sold to developers in small segments to limit the “cookie cutter” look. The plan still is to have single family homes built that will range from ~$250,000 to over $1,000,000.



The Clubhouse or recreation center will be constructed on a peninsular pad in 2012 and will house recreational facilities as well as meeting rooms, etc. The lake will be accessible to all Arlington Residents for fishing, rowing, kayaking, sailing, and small boats with electric motors only. There will also be a ~ 32 acre island with gated access that will be completely surrounded by the lake except for the access drive.



Near the east end of the lake there will be a park constructed of ~ 30 acres for general usage.



The portion of the property that is east of the old “Bird’s Fort” location has not yet had much done to it and will be converted with the large dirt movement mentioned above. At the moment, it is a virtual wilderness, complete with animals, wild flowers, indigenous trees, etc. At the very north side of the property, there has been discovered some dinosaur bones that UT-Arlington paleontologists are currently digging, cataloging, and studying. That dig is expected to be complete by October 2010 and will not interfere with the development plan. Also on the north side, there are some industrial properties that will either be moved or screened with berms and/or landscaping.



ATTACHMENTS: Viridian Concept Plan0001 and Viridian Concept Plan0002 can be printed out and matched together. The original was a little too large for my scanner. North is at the top and if you have it matched correctly, the “Legend” will be on the bottom right of your combined picture. Collins is on the left, SH360 is on the right, and Green Oaks Blvd is along the bottom two corners. Viridian Concept Plan0003 is the plat plan for the first part of the development. If you print this out and orient it with the long edge at the top (see the North arrow?), then Collins would be on your left and the lake at the bottom of the picture. As you can see, this is an elaborate platting job!



Thanks to each of you for your interest in our area of the city.



Jim Bass

Chairman

Action North Arlington

Action_n_arlington@sbcglobal.net