Flower Mound council approves Monarch master-plan change, adopts PD with conditions tying some homes to commercial buildout

Flower Mound’s Town Council voted unanimously to approve a master-plan amendment and a zoning planned development (ZPD) for the Monarch project, a roughly 200‑acre mixed‑use proposal along I‑35W and Denton Creek Boulevard that would create a large commercial center and up to 278 townhomes.

The change shifts about 42.73 acres from campus‑commercial to high‑density residential on the town’s master plan and establishes a PD that would allow roughly 157 acres of campus commercial, more than 472,000 square feet of nonresidential buildings shown in the concept plan and 278 townhome units (the PD caps townhomes at 290). The council added conditions tying the release of the first tranche of townhome occupancy to the commercial project reaching specified construction milestones.

The applicant, Eric Schmitz, represented by planner Randy Rivera of McAdams, described multiple ongoing retailer negotiations and said three potential commercial users had executed pre‑closing agreements contingent on zoning and site access. Schmitz urged council to approve the PD to keep momentum and to encourage TxDOT and other partners to accelerate frontage‑road work that retailers require.

Council members and staff discussed many PD details during a long public hearing and deliberation. Town planner Lehi Murphy reviewed the PD standards, noting that the proposal adds permitted campus‑commercial uses (including pharmacies, accessory gasoline sales, health clubs and large retail tenants up to and over 100,000 square feet), modifies setback and parking language carried forward from older PD standards, and proposes special accessory uses such as an indoor…