Update:
This story is part of Boomtowns, a look at some of the cities surrounding Dallas-Fort Worth that are attracting the interest of homebuilders, businesses and new residents as the area grows.
Rockwall County’s Fate isn’t leaving sprawl to chance
Many of its residents work at defense contractor L3 in Greenville and at companies in the Rockwall Technology Park.
FATE — The first and third Wednesdays of every month, Fate city leaders block off their calendars to be available to developers.
The town, which had just 600 residents in 2000 and now has more than 20,000, isn’t leaving anything to fate. It’s following a revised 20-year master plan – updated with extensive community feedback last year – after growth trumped a previous comprehensive plan created in 2015.
A look at Fate in images
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“Fate today is what Rockwall was about 20 years ago,” said assistant city manager Justin Weiss. The city, which is east of Dallas between Rockwall and Royse City, is adding 2,000 residents a year based on housing starts.
Residents have only been able to use Fate in their mailing address since 2013. The city straddles Interstate 30 and its tiny downtown has attracted mixed-used development. A three-story building with 18 apartments and four storefronts houses a Pizza Factory, Pablo’s Restaurant and Cantina, and a local ice creamery.
Construction on two more buildings is about to begin on an adjoining street, while the city works on nurturing future restaurants at its Food Haul, a city lot where food trucks can park and test the market.
Fate’s Woodcreek subdivision was one of the top housing developments in the U.S. in 2020 based on its 623 home sales in a single year.
There’s more new home construction just south of Interstate 30 along FM551. Three builders have plans for 650 new homes expected to be priced starting at around $490,000 on the 161-acre Edgewater development. It’s near the town’s first large supermarket, an upscale 66,000-square-foot Fresh by Brookshire’s grocery store.
Mayor David Billings commuted 28 miles to downtown Dallas and his job at AT&T after he moved to Texas from Pennsylvania in 2013.
Billings, elected mayor in 2020 and now retired from AT&T, said the focus of Fate’s local government is to be a “fiscally resilient community” that watches expenses without stifling growth. The city’s budget of $12.2 million covers services provided by 91 employees, including fire, police and emergency medical services. Capital projects total $16.8 million for the new fiscal year.
Last year, voters approved a $15 million bond package for roads. A new north-south connector is under construction, and sewer and water lines are ready for future development on the surrounding 280 acres.
Many of Fate’s residents work at defense contractor L3Harris in Greenville and at the 550-acre Rockwall Technology Park, which includes employers Pratt Industries and SPR Packaging. The President George Bush Turnpike makes commuting to jobs in Collin County possible, Weiss said.
Fate is served by two school districts, Rockwall ISD and Royse City ISD. Royse City has plans to build a high school in Fate within 10 years.
The new City Hall is north of downtown but physically in the middle of Fate. The long-term vision for the next layer of commercial development along Interstate 30 includes entertainment, a hotel, a sports complex, a hospital and more residential.
“Sprawl creates incredible demand on municipalities,” said Weiss, who has a master’s degree in public administration and has lived in Fate since 2013.
Local government was something he always wanted to do, but Texas wasn’t on his radar until serendipitous events led him to call his wife from a conference to ask her if she “believed in fate” and would leave California for Texas.
“Fate is still mostly underdeveloped, but the way we grow is more important than that we grow,” Weiss said, who is also a beekeeper. Fate’s plans include buffer zones making up a percentage of each housing development to maintain a rural feel, he said.
The small-town lifestyle is still sought after by a lot of people, Billings said.
“People who move out here like to say there are cows on my way home from Dallas.”
FATE AT A GLANCE
Population: Estimated 21,013 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau
Location: 28 miles east of downtown Dallas
Racial demographics: 59.1% white, 28.6% Hispanic, 7.4% Black, 2.1% Asian, according to the U.S. Census Bureau
Median household income: $109,481, according to the U.S. Census Bureau
Median existing home sale price: $390,750, according to Redfin
Median new construction sale price: $394,175, according to Residential Strategies
Annual single-family home starts: 580 through second-quarter 2022, according to Residential Strategies
School districts: Royse City ISD and Rockwall ISD
Master-planned communities: Woodcreek, Avondale, Monterra, Spring Meadow, Williamsburg, Edgewater and Chamberlain Crossing
Rental communities: Prose Apartments, two phases each with more than 350 units
Retail: Along I-30, the Fresh by Brookshire’s also has a grill, café, sushi bar and taqueria with lots of indoor and outdoor seating and a Spec’s Wines, Spirits and Finer Foods. McDonald’s and a building that will house both Starbucks and a dental office are coming to Brookshire’s parking lot. Taco Bell is open and Jersey Mike’s is coming next door to a new shopping center, Fate Village. Fate has already started revitalizing its small downtown mostly for restaurants.
Festivals and events: City Hall was built in 2017 and its adjacent park and pickleball courts are used for events including the Christmas tree lighting, the town’s July Fourth gathering and fireworks, and for Celebrate Fate, an outdoor festival held on a Saturday in mid-September.
Infrastructure: The Woodcreek Boulevard extension was approved by a bond package last year. It will be a north-south connector road to Interstate 30. Several sewer and water development projects are underway, including major updates to the sewer treatment plant and a third pump station. A three-story, mixed-use building is under construction with offices on the second and third floors.
History lesson: Feedstore owner William Lafayette Brown was integral in establishing the town’s post office in 1880. His wife called him Fate for short. Other names considered at the time, such as Brown Springs, were already taken in Texas.
Meet the next North Texas boomtowns
As Dallas-Fort Worth grows, smaller cities in every direction are attracting the attention of builders and new residents. Here are some of the ones to watch.
