Though the overlay district is no longer in existence, the projects it yielded are still around and one will soon be expanded. Officials with the town were able to use the overlay district to attract two senior living projects, Watermere at Flower Mound and the RiverWalk Flats.
The town council recently approved a 24-villa expansion to the Watermere at Flower Mound. There’s still a demand for senior housing in Flower Mound, developer Andrew Chapin said during a recent planning and zoning commission meeting.
The details
The overlay district allowed developers to set up shop in town without having to apply for a master plan amendment.
Before the overlay district was created, the town had two single-family senior living neighborhoods, Orchard Flower and The Legends. Back in 2016, seniors in the community were expressing interest in more housing options besides single-family homes, Tommy Dalton, Flower Mound’s assistant town manager, said.
This was important to seniors wanting to stay in Flower Mound, Lexin Murphy, the town’s director of development services, said.
“People love Flower Mound and they want to have the ability to continue to stay in Flower Mound when they enter different aspects of their life where they might have a different focus,” Murphy said.
The overview
The senior overlay district was ended in 2019 by the town council. Then-council member Jim Pierson said at the time that the overlay district needed to end because it didn’t fulfill its purpose, providing affordable housing for seniors. However, Dalton said affordability is relative and the town is still doing more to address the need for senior housing.
“What’s affordable in Flower Mound is going to be completely different than what’s affordable in other communities,” he said.
The Furst Ranch project that is currently in the works will include 1,000 age-restricted for seniors. However, the project likely won’t be built out until at least 2045, according to the town’s website.
Quote of note
“They set records in terms of how quickly they were able to lease out those units," Dalton said. "So, to me, I think that’s the market telling you it was desirable. There was a demand for it and it was affordable.”
While the town no longer has the senior overlay district, Dalton said there’s nothing preventing developers of senior housing to set up shop in Flower Mound.
