{"id":41947,"date":"2025-07-05T23:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T23:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/41947\/"},"modified":"2025-07-05T23:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T23:34:11","slug":"where-i-live-forest-hill-mayor-loves-living-in-growing-south-fort-worth-suburb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/41947\/","title":{"rendered":"Where I Live: Forest Hill mayor loves living in growing south Fort Worth suburb"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Stephanie Boardingham<\/p>\n

In 2004, my husband Timey and I were looking for a house that had some acreage on it. We didn\u2019t even know about Forest Hill, but we came out and looked at the house we\u2019re living in now and it was everything we wanted.<\/p>\n

The thing that drew us to Forest Hill was the fact that we wanted land. Both my husband and I came from farms. We wanted land, but we wanted it in the city where it was like we had farm life, but so we could go around the corner and shop.<\/p>\n

When we first moved here, it was simply the fact that we liked the house with the property. As time went on, we learned the city better. When we learned what the city was really about, that kept us here.<\/p>\n

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we lived in our backyard. We did a lot of flower and yard work on our land.<\/p>\n

Forest Hill is our own unique city with more than 14,000 residents. We have such a diverse city. It was originally a farming community that became a bedroom community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We have established so much and grown so much.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We have a big history here. We\u2019re sandwiched in between two big cities: Fort Worth and Arlington. Arlington runs on one side and then Fort Worth is actually on the other.<\/p>\n

We have seven parks in Forest Hill, which I think is such a great thing for our small, 4-square miles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We just got $1 million to renovate the largest park, Griggs South Creek Linear Park, which we call Griggs Park, so we\u2019re really looking forward to that. That is also the area where we do our family fun day every year, where it\u2019s a free get-together for the community to come to the park. I can\u2019t wait to see what it\u2019s going to be like when we have those million dollars in action.<\/p>\n

Interstate 20 runs right through us, which is a huge asset to our community. We have new construction that\u2019s widening our freeway. We\u2019re getting a brand-new bridge as the Anglin Drive bridge is about to come down. We have new Texas turnarounds on Hartman Road, and new sidewalks are coming down the whole length of Forest Hill Drive.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mayor Stephanie Boardingham, right, and husband Timey, both serve on the Forest Hill City Council. (Courtesy photo | Stephanie Boardingham)<\/p>\n

Economic development projects are in the works, with 400 new homes coming to Forest Hill. We definitely have some ideas of what we want to accomplish with a mixed-use development. We\u2019re going to go really slow with that, but we\u2019re really excited about the possibilities.<\/p>\n

We have over 300 businesses in the city, including nine motels. If we plan this development out right, we would be able to use some of that motel tax revenue to help the city grow and benefit our motels as well. It would bring revenue into the city and heads in the beds.<\/p>\n

Now as time goes on, we\u2019re realizing that we can\u2019t just depend on Fort Worth and Arlington to go and shop. We need to bring that income into our community as well. Our goal is to bring a grocer into that area as well.<\/p>\n

Our city manager, Venus Wehle, has worked very diligently to make this come about. A lot of cities don\u2019t have that retail value right off the highway. About 190,000 people a day go up and down I-20 \u2014 we did a retail study \u2014 so we have so many different people traveling right through the middle of our great city of Forest Hill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That is such an asset. We want them to stop. We want them to come to Forest Hill. We want them to visit with us and see how great we are.<\/p>\n

We might be small, but we\u2019re on the move.<\/p>\n

Stephanie Boardingham is mayor of Forest Hill and co-owner of Forest Hill Indoor\/Outdoor Market.<\/p>\n

Forest Hill<\/strong><\/p>\n

Total population: <\/strong>14,238<\/p>\n

Female: <\/strong>51% | Male: <\/strong>48%<\/p>\n

Age<\/strong><\/p>\n