Definition
Open space can consist of any land that is not used for development. Examples of these open, non-built areas are agricultural lands, pristine environmental areas, and public green spaces.

Importance of Open Space
Open space provides several benefits to the Town of Flower Mound. Open space can help provide environmental protection whereby natural resources and wildlife that are important to the Town’s identity can be preserved. The character of the community is protected through preservation of open space by evaluating an area’s sense of place, scale, land uses, amount of urban development, and presence of unique environmental elements. Economic benefits are gained by adding value to individual properties, developments and communities as a whole that are developed adjacent to open spaces. Finally, by preserving a community’s open space, future development practices can be guided in concert with environmental preservation agendas more effectively.

Open Space and Flower Mound

Open Space Plan
The Town of Flower Mound has developed an Open Space Plan for the preservation and protection of its open, productive agricultural, natural, and scenic lands.

Environmental Conservation Commission
In addition to this, the Town has also established an Environmental Conservation Commission to oversee the Open Space Plan and its components, review and evaluate conservation development projects in relations to the Open Space Plan, facilitate grant and loan applications for open space funding programs and facilitate relations between landowners and land trusts. The Environmental Conservation Commission meets the first Tuesday of every month in Town Hall at 6:30 p.m. or as needed.

Additional Conservation Efforts
The Town encourages Conservation Development, and thus conservation of open space, through an incentive program.

The Town has also hosted open space symposia. The objectives of the open space symposia are to encourage open space conservation, natural resource conservation, and sustainable development.

The vision for the Flower Mound Community Plan, adopted by the Town Council on September 27, 1999, included as one of the key goals of the plan to “preserve the country atmosphere and natural environment that makes Flower Mound a unique and desirable community.” The Open Space Plan was designed to help the Town realize that vision, by defining open space that is important to Flower Mound, identifying methods by which it can be conserved, and setting forth an action plan for the Town to support the conservation of open space.

Environment Qualities
Environmental qualities that promote the country atmosphere and natural environment of Flower Mound consist of four major groups:

• Agricultural lands
• Natural areas
• Scenic resources
• The Ancient Cross Timbers Ecological Region