NOTE:  Landowners Smith, Wilson and Bunn owned the properties between Bruton Orand and Shiloh Road South of FM1171, and Wilson a section north of FM 1171 between Lusk and Shiloh.  In the 2013 Master Plan update driven by development interests, some of these areas were requested to be removed from the Cross Timbers Conservation Development District so that higher density could occur.  Bunn eventually sold to Toll Brothers, who indicated in 2013 they are still interested in pursuing higher density and municipal sewer for these areas.

The Dallas Morning News / January 5, 2003 / Scott Farwell

HUD clears Flower Mound zoning charge

Property owners alleged zoning laws were discriminatory

          The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently dismissed an allegation by three Flower Mound property owners that the town's zoning laws are discriminatory.

          The August 2001 complaint said that the town's SmartGrowth program, which sets housing density standards and favors environmentally sensitive development, limits housing for racial minorities, single women, people with disabilities and families with children.

          The complaint was reviewed by the U.S. Department of Justice, which recommended that HUD dismiss the case, according to Terry Welch, Flower Mound's attorney.

          "While SmartGrowth was the first growth management program of its kind in Texas, we firmly believed at the time of its adoption in 1999 and today that it is a valid, legal and constitutional response to the pressures of sometimes staggering residential growth," Mr. Welch said.

          Dr. Bob Smith, a Dallas pediatrician and philanthropist, Sam Wilson and Janet Bunn filed the complaint. Mr. Smith and his attorney, Arthur Anderson, could not be reached for comment.

          Scott Hudman, a spokesman for the Southwest office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity in Fort Worth, said the case has been closed.

          "Our perspective is ... there was no discriminatory action taking place," said Mr. Hudman. "We are not going to pursue this any further."

          Flower Mound Mayor Lori DeLuca said the owners of about 1,000 acres near the Cross Timbers Conservation Development District wanted to build apartments in an area zoned for two-acre lots.

          "He wanted higher [housing] densities in that area than is allowed in the master plan," Mrs. DeLuca said.

          Mayor Pro Tem Stephani Spruill said the available housing ranges from apartments to estates.

          "Flower Mound is only 44 to 45 percent developed," Mrs. Spruill said.

          "We can't control which type of housing develops first, but I'm confident that when all is said and done, there will be more than adequate housing available for everyone."

Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/localnews/city/denton/stories/010503dndenhud.27c6b.html