Posted on 06/24/2004 8:01:53 AM PDT by ladtx
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Fort Worth is on the move on the population charts. So is Dallas. They're just going in opposite directions.
Jumping past five cities -- including Boston, Seattle and Washington, D.C. -- Fort Worth is now the 20th largest city in the country, with 585,122 residents, according to 2003 Census figures released today.
Dallas, meanwhile, was supplanted by San Antonio as the eighth largest city in the country. Dallas, which gained fewer than 2,500 people between July 2002 and July 2003, dropped to No. 9.
Fort Worth has been enjoying a robust growth rate for several years. But Rocky Gardiner, with the North Central Texas Council of Governments, said Cowtown is growing even faster than expected.
Two years ago, the council said Fort Worth would have 624,000 people by 2010, Gardiner said.
"With the growth we're seeing lately, they could surpass that by 2006," he said.
Most of the growth is in north Fort Worth.
Fort Worth was also the fastest-growing city of more than 500,000 from July 2002 to July 2003, increasing by about 2.8 percent, or 16,000 people.
And from April 2000 to July 2003, Fort Worth grew 8.1 percent, making it the fasting-growing city of more than 500,000 during that time, according to the census figures.
"We have found that delicate balance between economic development opportunities in our city and the quality of life in our neighborhoods," Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief said.
The city's booming population will undoubtedly affect public policy, he said.
"We're no longer 25. We're now 20. Certainly as we go into this next budget cycle, it's something we're going to have to be mindful of," Moncrief said.
While municipal services must continue to be expanded to sustain the growth, Fort Worth is big enough to handle the newcomers, Fort Worth city planner Fernando Costa said.
About one-third of the city's land is vacant and suitable for development, Costa said.
"We can accommodate a great deal of growth within our city limits, which in a sense makes Fort Worth different from many other large cities," Costa said.
State demographer Steve Murdock said Fort Worth's and San Antonio's growth is partly because of the availability of land surrounding the cities. Dallas, on the other hand, has little space left for new development.
"Dallas is a very contained area. Growth like this simply isn't possible there," Murdock said.
Dallas Mayor Laura Miller, who had just given her state-of-the-city address Wednesday, said she was disappointed to learn of Dallas' drop in the standings.
But she said it would not be long before Dallas surpasses San Antonio again, especially after the completion of the Trinity River Corridor project, which will consist of lakes, trails, an equestrian center and the Great Trinity Forest, which will be seven times the size of New York's Central Park.
San Antonio has "that little, teeny, tiny River Walk and when we get our big, huge Trinity River lakes project with our nice bridges, I think that's going to turn around real fast," she said.
Arlington gained 4,806 new residents in 2002-03, more than moved to Dallas during that time. The city's population of 355,007 makes it the 49th largest U.S. city, but its growth rate was only 1.4 percent.
Some smaller communities in North Texas enjoyed substantial growth.
Little Elm, on the north shore of Lewisville Lake in Denton County, grew more than 31 percent to about 12,000 people from 2000 to 2003, making it the country's seventh fastest-growing city of any size during that time.
Town Manager J.C. Hughes called the figures "mind-boggling" but not unexpected.
"Frisco is right next to us, so I think it was a natural progression for people to look down the road to us," Hughes said.
He said population growth will probably be even greater in 2008, when a corridor connecting Little Elm to Interstate 35 is completed.
In Crowley, south of Fort Worth, City Manager Truitt Gilbreath downplayed his city's 8.1 percent growth rate.
"Being a smaller city, naturally our percentage would be greater than larger cities where the numbers are growing faster," he said.
Gilbreath said the quality of life in a smaller town combined with its proximity to Fort Worth attracts people to Crowley.
"You have a little more opportunity to be involved in a small community," he said.
Burleson spokeswoman Sherry Campbell-Husband attributes the city's growth of 6.8 percent to the semi-rural environment, good schools and proximity to shopping and other amenities in Fort Worth.
While dealing with growth can be painful, it's worth the hassle, Campbell-Husband said.
"Our mayor is fond of saying, 'A community that doesn't grow dies,' " she said.
Staff writers Jeff Claassen, Mike Lee, Martha Deller and Eva-Marie Ayala contributed to this report.
The New York City metropolitan area includes southwestern Connecticut as well as most of northern New Jersey.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.