Fort Worth is officially teaming up with Aledo in a looming courtroom fight over Willow Park’s latest annexation move. This week, City Council voted to let the city attorney join Aledo as a co-plaintiff in a planned lawsuit that challenges Willow Park’s recent annexation steps. City staff told council the action would make Fort Worth a co-plaintiff and that initial filing costs are expected to be under $2,500. Officials described the step as a way to protect long-term right-of-way and planning interests near the Bankhead Highway corridor.
According to Fort Worth Report, a staff memo presented to council says Willow Park sought to move its extraterritorial jurisdiction boundary east from the intersection of Bankhead Highway and Nu Energy Drive to FM 1187. The report notes the Bankhead right-of-way’s southern portion falls inside Aledo’s ETJ and corporate limits while the northern portion sits in Fort Worth’s ETJ. Council members approved a resolution authorizing the city attorney to join Aledo’s filing and to cover or reimburse associated fees from the city’s risk financing fund.
"The purported annexation is outside of Willow Park’s extraterritorial jurisdiction," the staff report said, and Aledo plans to ask a court to declare the challenged annexations unlawful and void. Fort Worth’s move would add regional weight to Aledo’s legal challenge and could affect development plans on both sides of the border, the reporting said.
Where the disputed tract sits
Willow Park began formal steps last year to annex roughly 317 acres at the southwest corner of I-20 and FM 1187 for a mixed-use project that would include commercial, multifamily and single-family parcels, according to a city release reported by the Fort Worth Business Press. The proposed land sits adjacent to acreage Fort Worth and area developers have been targeting, and the competing claims have turned what started as routine annexation steps into a wider regional dispute.
Why Fort Worth says it stepped in
City staff told council the dispute is about more than a single development, and that the integrity of ETJ lines informs long-range utility, drainage and road plans that take years and millions to build. The City of Fort Worth’s annexation materials explain that annexation planning identifies areas for future municipal services and capital work, and that those plans guide investment decisions over decades. Council documents also authorized payment or reimbursement of any related court fees from the financial management services department’s risk financing fund.
What Willow Park says
A Willow Park spokesperson told Yahoo News the city attorney’s office would withhold comment until officials had a chance to review Fort Worth’s resolution. Earlier press material from Willow Park framed the annexation as a long-term development opportunity for the small city, and Aledo did not immediately respond to inquiries in the reporting.
Legal stakes
Aledo’s planned complaint seeks a court declaration that the disputed annexations are unlawful and void, a remedy that would unwind municipal boundaries or at least slow development approvals if the plaintiffs prevail. Beyond the courtroom outcome, the dispute highlights how fast-moving growth in the western Metroplex is creating fresh conflicts over ETJ lines, road rights and who will pay for future services.
For now, the council’s vote clears the way for Fort Worth’s city attorney to join Aledo’s filing, and residents and developers in the area can expect the battle over maps and jurisdiction to play out in filings and, potentially, in court records in the weeks ahead.
