The first of four phases of homes in Toll Brothers’ Havenwood residential development was given the green light by Flower Mound Town Council Monday evening, despite being partially within a FEMA Floodplain and a request for the removal of three specimen trees.
Havenwood’s first phase is set to build 87 single-family, semi-custom homes on 172 acres at the southeast corner of FM 1171 and Shiloh Road.
The development’s full build out, once all four phases are completed, is expected to contain 222 homes on the 447-acre plot of land.
According to the town, the applicant has no plans to build homes within the floodplain, instead planning to put in private trails, retention ponds and roadway with utility crossings.
“We want to get the trails in there and we’re using old gas well roads that were put in years ago,” said Mike Boswell, who represented Toll Brothers. “The effort here is to minimize impact.”
Boswell said the homes within the development will also have minimum finish floor elevations that will prevent homeowners from having to pay for flood insurance.
“When I started in this business, it was a few hundred dollars,” said Boswell. “It’s thousands of dollars now, so we want to make sure we’re contributing to that.”
Council didn’t have much issue with the floodplain request as the plan largely matched the town’s standards.
“I don’t think there is any issue from my perspective with the floodplain,” said council member Brian Taylor. “That’s pretty straightforward – it meets the intent of our ordinances and meets the town standards.”
According to the town, the drainage within the development is anticipated to improve once the neighborhood is fully built out.
However, the developer requested the removal of three specimen trees, all post oaks, which is where council seemed to be on different pages.
“With the trees, they’re saving 43 out of 46 newly-identified specimen trees,” said Taylor. “I think every effort has been made to save as many trees as possible, so I don’t have any issue with the three proposed to remove.”
“I disagree,” said council member Chris Drew. “I think [one of the three] potentially has some room to save, I didn’t see any enough evidence to justify it being removed. I’d rather wait until we have a site plan for the home and remove it then, if needed.”
According to Boswell, any trees that they believe should be removed will likely struggle to survive after the homes are built.
“We want to be realistic up front,” he said. “We’re fairly confident that trees in the wrong location are going to struggle.”
Mayor Pro-Tem Ann Martin added that post oaks, like the tree Drew hoped to save, are particularly sensitive to building and root disturbances.
“I think I would feel better approving this last tree if I had a clearer understanding if either the tree was unhealthy or if I knew it was 100% necessary to properly grade that lot [for drainage issues,” said Deputy Mayor Pro-Tem Adam Schiestel. “The last time we saw the tree removal permits for this project, I came in with a list of trees hoping Mike would save a couple and he agreed to save them all, so I feel like he’s earned some credibility, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.”
The floodplain plan was unanimously approved under the conditions that the interaction of Deer Hollow Trail and Scenic Drive would be aligned to meet traffic and engineering requirements for construction.
Also, a floodplain study and a drainage study would be required for the first phase that will be used for all four phases, which would be updated and reviewed throughout the building process.
Finally, staff and council wanted to ensure there would be dedicated spaces for the HOA within the floodplain deemed unbuildable, but could be used for private trails, retention ponds and roadways with utility crossings.
The tree removal was approved 4-1 with Drew being the only dissenting vote.
Planning and Zoning unanimously approved the floodplain plan at its Feb. 23 meeting and the tree removals were approved by the Environmental Conservation Commission at its meeting on Feb. 3 by a vote of 5-1.
The overall plan for a Toll Brothers development was approved by council May 2024.
