2 days ago
Fort Worth residents stand against FedEx parking permit request. Will it matter?
Protesters showed their disapproval Tuesday afternoon of a FedEx request for a parking permit at its Southeast Fort Worth hub, a request that was later tabled by the City Council until June 24.
FedEx applied for a conditional use permit to allow parking of semi-trucks and trailers on a 9-acre lot at 4700 Martin St. in Southeast Fort Worth, near Loop 820.
The Fort Worth Environmental Coalition of Communities, a group of residents fighting environmental racism, held the protest to ask the city to deny the parking permit.
Councilwoman Jeanette Martinez, who represents the area where the FedEx hub is located, was not present, prompting the council to table the vote.
A May Zoning Commission meeting showed FedEx previously had a special exception that allowed it to park semi-trucks and trailers, but that permit expired in March 2020.
The commission questioned how the company missed the expiration date — and didn't realize it for five years. The reason was due to 'oversight' by FedEx, which didn't realize the lapse because it's a 'huge corporate entity,' according to Sean Tate, a lawyer representing FedEx. When the company learned about it from city officials, it immediately worked to rectify the problem, Tate added.
Tate said there would be no operational changes or expanded use at the FedEx hub and that it will continue to be used as a storage facility. He added there would be new landscaping and a wood screen fence to replace the chain-link fence.
Tate said there were two meetings, on March 10 and April 5, with local neighborhood associations, to help fund the purchase and maintenance of a air quality monitor, implement new signs to deter truck traffic and create a formal complaint process for reported truck route violations.
The city's Zoning Commission said the permit is compatible with the surrounding industrial land uses and approved the permit with a vote of 10-1 to advance the matter to the City Council for a vote.
Letitia Wilbourn, a member of the Fort Worth Environmental Coalition of Communities and Echo Heights resident, said they want to deny it because of FedEx's poor communication and the community's desire to downsize the industrial and commercial footprint in their neighborhood.
Wilbourn said both meetings were held on short notice and residents were not given the answers they wanted in terms of how many trucks they had, what changes they wanted and more.
She added how residents complained to FedEx that the trucks will drive though residential streets, making the routes dangerous for children, or will park and idle, polluting the air.
'Today is the City Council meeting, and because of the lack of information that we have with FedEx, the lack of trust with FedEx, the inconsistencies with Fed Ex, the pollution from FedEx, we feel like it's important for us to go out and protest,' Wilbourn told the Star Telegram before the City Council meeting.
Fort Worth has designated Echo Heights and surrounding areas as an Industrial Growth Center through the Comprehensive Plan & Future Land Use plan that the city developed in 2000. Over the last few years the city and community members have clashed over efforts to reduce the amount of pollution in the neighborhoods.
Caleb Roberts, executive director of Downwinders at Risk, a clean air and environmental justice group, said adding this permit goes against what the community and environmental groups have been fighting for.
Roberts says it's disrespectful to constantly have to fight the city over the community's frustration with industrial growth in their neighborhood.
'It does seem like the city itself is helping these businesses set up shop and continue operating in these communities, and I don't think the city is helping the community in the same way,' Roberts said.
