City of Heath enacts six-month pause in residential and commercial development

Most North Texas cities compete for new homes and businesses. The city of Heath on the east side of Lake Ray Hubbard has enacted six-month development moratorium.

The news comes after a Nov. 14 city council meeting. At present, the moratorium is effective until March 14, 2024, but may be extended.

Heath Mayor Kelson Elam said it is to arrange more water supply and new regulations to deal with irrigation.

Critics at a public meeting this week said it is a small city trying to stop growth.

Mostly in booming Rockwall County, the city of Heath has a population of under 10,000. The average annual household income listed on the city website is $203,360 with 3,732 housing units.

Even with so much lake water adjacent to the city, Heath can’t just draw water from that big lake, which is owned by the city of Dallas.

The Heath master plan calls for one-acre home sites.

Mayor Elam said those large yards use a large amount of irrigation water.

“The moratorium is to set a new starting line for what we’re going to do from an irrigation standpoint, going to change our ordinances and other areas of water conservation,” Elam said.

Heath developer Brian Berry, a former Heath Mayor and city councilmember said the moratorium is unnecessary and misguided.

“We’re shutting down growth. We’re shutting down opportunity of a period of time that can’t be determined,” Berry said.

Mayor Elam admitted at Wednesday's public hearing on the plan that the development pause could be extended beyond six months to complete connection of additional water supply and conservation ordinances.

“If we don’t do this, we bring in something that might add to it and I’m just digging my hole deeper,” Elam said. “With all of the growth in North Texas, there’s now a limited supply of water and any city that’s not looking at that very carefully going forward has their head in the sand.”

Berry said the pause is unfair to development plans that were already in the works.  He cites a 158-acre site across from his office building that he said will be in limbo. Elam said the city is working with that property owner to keep a project advancing there.

“One or two water towers in town that hold a million and a half to two million gallons could bridge the gap for years to come but yet we want to shut things down,” Berry said.

Elam said water storage does not provide sufficient supply in peak usage periods.

“And so if everybody is using it at that rate, then having more storage doesn’t really help you,” Elam said.

The city held a public hearing about the proposal Wednesday evening at Heath City Hall.

Facing a string of speakers in opposition, Elam said for every 3 opponents he has heard 20 supporters of a development moratorium.

“Having served with several of them, I think that they want nothing. I think they think the last house that should have been built in this town was their own,” Berry said.

The big new Heath Golf and Yacht Club development on the south end of the city does include much smaller lots.

Elam said hundreds of new homes are already approved to continue construction and home sales there.

“I don’t think anybody is going to be delayed on this,” Elam said.

Heath gets water from the north through the neighboring city of Rockwall from the North Texas Municipal Water District.

Elam said the city of Dallas could be a new partner for water supply as well as other options from the south side of Heath.

Heath currently has no apartments or multi-family development.

"I love that we’re a different place, but I don’t like where it’s been going the last few years," Berry said.

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