Brownfields Economic Redevelopment

Municipal Setting Designations

On January 11, 2005, the Fort Worth City Council passed an ordinance providing for the approval process for the creation of municipal setting designations (MSDs) within the city.

Notice: Union Pacific Railroad (Applicant) has filed an application with the City of Fort Worth for the city’s approval of a Municipal Setting Designation (MSD) for the Union Pacific Centennial Rail Yard located at 1500 Rogers Road, Fort Worth, Texas. Read more 

Fort Worth’s Program

The Fort Worth ordinance requires persons apply to the Environmental Management Department for an MSD certification, and provides a two-part public participation process.

To make application a person shall:

• Review and familiarize themselves with the requirements of the Procedural Ordinance 
• Call to schedule a pre-application meeting with staff
• Complete the MSD Application Form 
• Submit a complete MSD Application Form accompanied by the required $2,000 fee
• Ensure availability for the required Public Meeting and Public Hearing.

The public meeting is required and is where the applicant provides information to the affected community about their application, and to obtain community input on the application prior to a formal hearing before the City Council. Following this meeting, a public hearing will be held as part of a regular City Council meeting where application information is provided and the community has the opportunity to comment.

What are MSDs?

In 2003 the Texas Legislature enacted House Bill 3152, establishing MSD, codified as Texas Health and Safety Code §§361.801-361.808. The law is administered by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), and is to be used in conjunction with the Voluntary Cleanup Program and other remediation programs.

In Fort Worth, an MSD is established when City Council adopt a resolution and an ordinance that prohibit the potable use of the identified shallow, perched groundwater. An MSD only eliminates the requirement to assess and remediate the groundwater consumption exposure pathway. All other exposure pathways, including inhalation, contact, and impact to ecological receptors, must still be addressed. The state cannot approve an MSD certification unless the city council of the municipality in which the affected land is located has passed an ordinance or restrictive covenant prohibiting the potable use of the identified groundwater.

The groundwater contamination that is of concern in MSD situations is typically shallow, perched groundwater with a depth of less than 30 feet. It is separated from another underlying body of groundwater by a confining layer – often clay or rock – and doesn’t threaten deeper aquifers. In Fort Worth, and in many other parts of the state, this shallow groundwater is generally of such low volume and poor quality, that it will never be used as a drinking water source. Frequently complicating this issue are areas of historical contamination from multiple sources such as filling stations, dry cleaners, plating facilities, and auto repair shops.

Due to the costs and time involved, the requirement that this low quality/low volume groundwater be cleaned to drinking water standards was an impediment to brownfields redevelopment. Because no one was drinking, or was ever going to drink this water, the cleanup requirement made no sense from an environmental, human health, or economic standpoint. Developers walked away from projects when they realized that the costs involved in remediating the groundwater to drinking water quality was beyond their means.

For more information regarding MSD certification or to obtain the status of an MSD certification, visit the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Useful information

• Access letter (when applicant isn't property owner)(1 page -- PDF - 11kb) 
• Municipal Setting Designations - A Municipality's Perspective