Nearby open space doesn't usually stay that way, experts caution

It all seems so perfect – a spacious new home on the edge of a suburban neighborhood that overlooks a grassy prairie lined by a forested creek.  

But then one morning, bulldozers and the rumbles of concrete trucks break the solitude. And what was destined to be – as the salesman noted – "you know, forever-wild land, a park" will in three months become a strip mall complete with a 24-hour drive-through burger joint.

Despite all the research, hand-wringing and discussion that goes into buying a home, one thing often goes unchecked by the suburban buyer: the plan others have for the empty piece of land nearby. For urban dwellers, the specs for the abandoned building next door often go unchecked. Whether it's faulty assumptions, laziness or believing misleading information from real estate agents, salespeople or neighbors, far too many home buyers are not doing their homework, city planners throughout booming North Texas say.

As a result, residents get stuck living next to homes when they believed the lots would hold a park instead. Or they end up a stone's throw from a new four-lane highway. Or they find out that the downtown parking lot could be home to a sparkling eight-story parking garage.

City planners say they get a lot of inquiries about properties but not nearly enough to reflect how busy the home-buying market is.

"I wish more folks would call in," said Phyllis Jarrell, Plano's planning director. "I would hope that people make use of the resources we have to find out."

Cities in recent months have been making it easier for home buyers to find out what's going on around them. Their user-friendly measures range from providing interactive Web sites that allow people to type in an address to pull up a zoning map to simply toning down the jargon on land-use documents they provide.

The goal is to make the research easy for potential home buyers, planners say, because a salesperson or real estate agent could – knowingly or unknowingly – lead them astray.

In Denton, a planner is available at all times to answer spur-of-the-moment questions about zoning or other land-use issues, said Kelly Carpenter, the city's director of planning and development.

"They have to be interruptible," she said. "Our job is customer service."

Planning, zoning, and land-use designations involve a lot of jargon and acronyms that vary by city. That can make it difficult for typical home buyers to understand what's going on, even if they have all the necessary documents.

Along with asking about what someone can put on a site today, Ms. Carpenter said, people should ask about long-term plans and future roads.

Not doing so can have near-disastrous consequences. Curtis and Marsha Gadsden found that out after paying $300,000 to buy their retirement home in Rockwall's Fox Chase neighborhood. They, and other Fox Chase owners, say a saleswoman for the builder told them the vacant land across the street was going to be a neighborhood with homes similar to theirs.

They found out several months later that the land was, and had been, designated for a retail shopping center or small-scale office complex. And, equally upsetting, the narrow alley running behind their back fences would become a divided four-lane road.

A group of about a dozen homeowners settled out of court with the builder, David Weekley Homes, for an undisclosed amount. John Burchfield, an attorney for David Weekley, said he couldn't confirm what the saleswoman said and that she doesn't work for the firm anymore. He said the dispute involved items other than the zoning and that they've all been resolved.

Mr. Gadsden, 56, said he and his wife actually did quite a bit of research on the area and on the builder, but they didn't look into the adjacent land.

A good real estate agent should find out what's being planned for land around neighborhoods, but the agent shouldn't guarantee anything to a potential home buyer, said Mark Wolfe, president of the Greater Dallas Association of Realtors. If they don't know, they should say so and send people to the city instead, he said.

Land-use designations can change quickly, and often, in growing areas and sometimes builders and real estate agents get stuck with outdated information, said Paul Cauduro, spokesman for the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas.

Home buyers can sue salespeople or real estate agents who have intentionally misled them. But it's difficult to prove intent and to put a dollar amount on the damage, said Dallas attorney Joe Chumlea, who has represented home buyers, including the Gadsdens, in such disputes. The cost to pursue a lawsuit isn't always worth what the homeowners might end up getting in an award or settlement.

If people knew more about the land around them before they bought a home, it would stave off some headaches for city council members and others who must negotiate compromises with developers and builders when owners protest, city planners said.

It is also wise for builders and developers working on a new project to involve nearby homeowners, said Mr. Cauduro, of the Home Builders Association. They want to resolve issues before they take their proposal to the city, he said.

If a developer wants to change the zoning on a piece of property (what can be built there), then a city is required to let nearby homeowners know.

State law requires that cities send a notice to all owners within 200 feet of the property. Several cities have other rules for notification that go beyond the state requirements. And most require signs on the site in question to let people know that someone wants to make a change.

Dallas notifies homeowners up to 500 feet away based on the size of the request. For controversial projects, Denton asks the developer to meet with neighbors. Plano notifies nearby homeowners associations, and Fort Worth includes schools and other civic associations.

The notifications give nearby homeowners basic information about the change, including maps, contact numbers and a schedule of upcoming planning meetings. Most also encourage people to respond as to whether they support or oppose the change.Residents who live near a 30-acre vacant lot at the southwest corner of Ridgeview and Alma drives in Allen received notice in January that a developer wanted to build single-family homes and town homes on a lot zoned for town homes and a shopping center.

Jennifer Maulden, 29, said she wasn't aware that a shopping center could have been built so close and sent her form back to the city saying she supported the change, which was approved last week.

"We're very pleased about that," she said. "We would be able to see it from our house, and I don't want a shopping center that close to us."

Holly Fisher Britt, one of the original Fox Chase homeowners in Rockwall, said it's been a constant battle since she learned the land behind her was set aside for retail development and not single-family homes. The homeowners banded together to defeat a developer's request in 2002 for a zoning change that would have also allowed urban lofts to be built there.

"When you buy property, no matter where it is, you need to know what's going on and what's being built. You need to hear it from the planning and zoning commission, and not from the representative of any specific company," she said. "You need to do your homework. An educated buyer is one that doesn't have headaches and has no remorse in your purchase."

Doing the research