Denton City Council members will talk Nov. 17 about whether to stop taking new applications for apartment complexes, an idea Mayor Watts raised over the summer. City planners are telling them that state law probably stands in the way.
The discussion is the last of four reports on the council's work session, which begins at 11 a.m. at City Hall, 215 E. McKinney St. Council gives direction at work sessions but does not vote.
How many apartments
Using figures from the real estate data firm CoStar, staff count about 26,500 apartment units in the city now. Another 4,286 were under construction and 1,621 were in pre-development review as of July. If every one of those is finished, Denton would have about 32,407 units.
That would exceed the 28,839 apartment units of demand the city's 2040 comprehensive plan expected by 2040, according to the agenda report. The plan's numbers assumed 3.19% yearly population growth; the report says actual growth peaked at 4.4% in 2025 and that the plan is due for an update.
A staff memo from July says the market is already cooling. It cites sources putting Denton's vacancy rate anywhere from 12.8% to 19.9%, with average rent near $1,420, down 6.1% from a year earlier. The city has no pending rezoning, planned development or specific use permit request for a new apartment project, staff wrote.
What the law allows
Texas cities can freeze residential development only by documenting a shortage of water, sewer, drainage or street capacity, or of services such as police and fire. Planners wrote that, based on the research they did for the city's data center moratorium, they do not believe they could show apartments strain those systems differently from other homes or businesses.
