Fort Worth | Historic and Overlay Districts

Fort Worth Historic and Overlay Districts: Landmarks, the Como Conservation District, Airport Noise Zones and the TCU Overlay

An overlay is a set of extra rules placed on a mapped area on top of its base zoning district. In Fort Worth the overlays that most often change a small housing project are historic designations, which add a design review, the first conservation district, now in draft for Como, the airport zones around NAS JRB and the City's three airports, and the TCU Residential overlay. This page explains each, with the City document behind it. The Fort Worth overview gives the short version.

The Overlays at a Glance

Source: zoning district summary (Rev. 5/26/26), "Overlay Districts"; Historic Preservation page; Como draft. Overlays show on the City's zoning map; the Zoning Ordinance page tells owners to check it for "the overlay districts that apply to your site."

Historic Landmarks and Districts

The district summary describes the three historic overlays, DD, HC and HSE, as "Special overlay districts to provide for protection and preservation of places and areas of historic and cultural importance and significance. Subject to review by Historic and Cultural Landmarks Commission." The City's Historic Preservation page sets out the levels:

• HC. Properties that "fulfill two (2) or more of the Criterial for significance and integrity as laid out by the Historic Preservation Ordinance."
• HSE. Properties that "fulfill three (3) or more of the Historic Preservation Ordinance criteria for significance and integrity and are threatened by irretrievable loss."
• Districts. The page lists 14 local historic districts: Fairmount, Historic Carver Heights, Morningside, Elizabeth Boulevard, Chase Court, Hillcrest, Linden Avenue, Terrell Heights, Stockyards, Mistletoe Heights, Central Handley, Garden of Eden, Kenwood Court and W. A. Powers. Each may have guidelines "created and approved by the property owners of the historic district and then adopted by the City Council"; amendments need "the majority vote of the historic district and the City Council." Where a district has none, the Secretary of the Interior's Standards apply.

Certificate of Appropriateness. "Before applying for a building permit for exterior alterations, new construction or demolition, you must acquire a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA)." The page lists siding, windows, doors, fences, driveways, roofing, accessory structures, porches and additions. Staff approve most COAs, but "HCLC review is required only for" new construction, demolition, waivers from the guidelines, historic designation and tax exemption checks. The Commission "meets the second Monday of every month," applications are due by "the third Monday of the month," and owners within 300 feet get a postcard 10 days before the hearing. An appeal of a staff decision to the Commission costs $355.

Who designates. A property "may be nominated for designation as Highly Significant Endangered (HSE), Historic and Cultural Landmark (HC), or Demolition Delay (DD) by the City Manager, City Council, Historic and Cultural Landmarks Commission, the owner or the owner’s authorized representative," and "There is no application fee." The fee schedule agrees: an HC, HSE or DD overlay rezoning has "No Fee." On June 9, 2026 the Council adopted Ordinance No. 28598-06-2026, which removed the Zoning Commission step and states that the Landmarks Commission "has the exclusive authority to" recommend designations to the Council. The ordinance cites Senate Bill 1585 of 2021.

The tax freeze. The Historic Site Tax Exemption "freezes the assessed valuations of the land and improvements at the pre-renovation values for the purpose of assessing city taxes" for "ten (10) years." To qualify, "an amount equal to or greater than 20% of the assessed valuation of the improvements" must go into the rehabilitation, and "Staff must approve all work prior to commencement." The same page says HSE properties "may be granted a tax freeze of 15 years if the rehabilitation work is completed within 2 years."

Historic Status and New Housing

Historic status changes several housing rules at once:

• SB 840. Sec. 5.159(A)(5) says "Any multifamily residential development, mixed-use residential development, or building conversion within a historic district or historic overlay shall follow the regulations and development standards of the historic district or historic overlay." Local Government Code 218.003 lets a city keep "regulations related to historic preservation." The City's 2025 briefing listed "Historic districts and designations" among the exemptions.
• Parking. Ordinance No. 23930-11-2019 exempts HC, HSE and National Register properties from off-street parking when the historic rules call for "a more historically appropriate lot dimension or site configuration." The Development 101 slides list "No min./max parking requirements" among historic incentives.
• Infill platting. "Any federally or locally designated historic district" counts as infill development under Sec. 31-43, so the looser 2026 lot layout rules apply there.
• A combined case. At 3247 S. Adams Street and 1010-24 W. Shaw Street, the Landmarks Commission recommended on March 10, 2025 that the Council designate the property HC, and in June 2025 the Council approved a PD/A-5 district "plus three units on one lot" with the "H/C" overlay.

Demolition is a separate step. Besides the COA for a designated property, the fee schedule lists a charge for "Demolition of structure 45 years or older" of $59.06, and demolition fees by floor area that start at $88.59 for up to 1,000 square feet.

Conservation Districts and the Como Draft

The City defines a conservation district as "A zoning tool that helps neighborhoods with a shared history and cohesive architectural look and feel to retain their existing housing stock and culture and regulate new construction." The Como draft describes it as a tool between ordinary zoning and full historic rules that "works as an overlay, adding design rules to the normal zoning," and says "This effort will be the first attempt to complete a conservation district in Fort Worth." The fee schedule lists a "CD" Conservation District overlay rezoning at "No fee."

Where it stands. The Historic Preservation page lists an August 7, 2025 neighborhood meeting, an August 23, 2025 workshop, focus groups on November 22 and December 6, 2025, a draft shown on February 5, 2026, and an "April 2026 Draft of Como Conservation District Design Guidelines," followed by "More information coming soon!" VanPlex found no adopted ordinance by October 9, 2026.

What the draft would require for a new house in Como:

• A style from the list: "Minimal Traditional," "Folk Victorian," "Craftsman" or "Tudor"; "Contemporary or Neo-Eclectic styles are not proposed."
• Height of "28 feet for interior lots; 35 feet for corner lots."
• A porch with a "Minimum depth of 6 feet; minimum width of 1/3rd of the front façade."
• "Rear lot garages or 10 foot setback of garage from front facade; maximum driveway width of 10 feet."
• A window-to-wall ratio of at least 15 percent on street-facing walls, front fences of at most 4 feet with "50% open design," and trees toward a "40% canopy coverage goal."

Staff would review projects and issue a COA, with an "Explanation for any requested adjustment (up to 20%)" and appeals to the Board of Adjustment "within 10 calendar days." The draft says A-5 lot coverage, front yards and side yards stay "Same as base zoning," and that "B-2 zoning will continue to allow duplexes in Como." Two parts of the draft do not match the City's zoning names: its checklist reads "Zoning is A-2 or B-2," while the City's district summary has A-5 and B and no A-2 or B-2 district. The adopted ordinance, when it comes, will control.

Airport and Military Zones

The district summary lists "CUZ" Compatible Use Zone and "AO" Airport Overlay as airport overlay districts that add rules to keep land uses compatible with flight operations. The City website lists three City airports: Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, Meacham Airport and Spinks Airport. The City's noise rules name a military base, the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base (NAS JRB).

Noise rules near NAS JRB. The City's Airport Sound Construction Compliance Packet explains that, to reduce "the potential of closing" the base, the City adopted "ordinances 17680-08-2007 and 17681-08-2007." Protected uses include "Single-family, two-family, townhouse, multi-family, and Assisted Living uses," and "All new construction with those uses, and any Change of Use to those uses, must comply with the sound reduction construction requirements" inside "the designated 65 dB and higher contours." An owner may instead submit "an acoustical design" showing that interior sound "shall not exceed 45 dB."

Source: Airport Sound Construction Compliance Packet, revised 2-12-09. STC, sound transmission class, rates how well a window, wall or door blocks sound; a higher number blocks more.

The 2025 state laws stop near airports. Fort Worth's Small Lot Housing rule, Sec. 6.509(c), bars small lots within "3,000 feet of an airport or military base" and within 15,000 feet of a military base boundary in a designated clear zone and accident potential zone. Sec. 5.159 bars new SB 840 housing within 3,000 feet of an airport or military base and in "An area designated as a clear zone or accident potential zone," and bars building conversions within 15,000 feet of a military base in such zones. Building heights also stay under the airport zoning rules of City Code Sec. 3-260.

The TCU Residential Overlay

Near Texas Christian University, whose land on Wabash Avenue a 2026 case lists as "B" Two-Family with the "TCU Overlay," the City has a "TCU Residential" overlay, described in the district summary as a "Residential overlay district to limit the number of unrelated persons living in a one-family district as a family in a single housekeeping unit." VanPlex did not find the overlay's number in a City document it could open. In its 2025 briefing on home businesses the City described "the city’s occupancy limit for the property (currently 5)."

SB 1567 (2025) added a Subchapter D to Local Government Code chapter 211 that bars occupancy limits based on relationship. By its own terms it "applies only to a home-rule municipality with a population of less than 250,000" with or next to a university campus of more than 20,000 students. Fort Worth had 918,915 people in the 2020 Census, so by VanPlex reading SB 1567 does not apply to the TCU overlay. Note that SB 15 added a different Subchapter D with the same section numbers.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the Fort Worth overview and other 2025 Texas housing laws.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)