The Triple T Ranch proposal would put up to 1,061 homes on 387.515 acres near Lake Ray Roberts in Sanger’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, and city records show that roughly two of every three lots would be 6,000 square feet or smaller. On Oct. 5, the Sanger City Council tabled the requests until Jan. 19 after a packed meeting, the Denton Record-Chronicle reported.
Never Late News went through the 256-page Oct. 5 council packet, which holds the zoning rules, the development agreement and the improvement district plan that will come back in January.
Where the land is and what is being asked
The property is undeveloped ranch land in the R. Bebee and J. Morton surveys, generally east of Union Hill Road, west of Jones Road, north of FM 1190 and south of Lake Ray Roberts Drive. City records list the owner as Triple T Farms. Because the land sits in Sanger’s ETJ, outside city limits, it would need to be annexed before the city could zone it.
The Oct. 5 agenda carried several linked requests:
- A change to Sanger’s Future Land Use Map from Ranch/Estate Residential to Medium Residential. Staff notes say every ETJ property gets Ranch/Estate as a placeholder.
- Full-purpose annexation of about 387 acres, plus about 0.75 acre of adjacent Texas Department of Transportation right of way.
- Creation of the Triple T Ranch Public Improvement District under Chapter 372 of the Texas Local Government Code.
- Planned Development zoning under Ordinance No. 09-34-26.
- A development agreement with a 30-year term that the city could extend in five-year steps.
The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended denial of the land use change and the zoning on Sept. 14, according to staff summaries in the packet.
The Triple T Ranch lot table
The heart of the Triple T Ranch plan is the lot table in the Planned Development rules. It sets a minimum lot size, a maximum number of homes and a minimum house size for each lot type.
- 40 by 120 feet, 4,800 square feet: up to 127 homes, at least 1,650 square feet of air-conditioned space.
- 50 by 120 feet, 6,000 square feet: up to 584 homes, at least 2,000 square feet.
- 60 by 120 feet, 7,200 square feet: up to 96 homes, at least 2,250 square feet.
- 70 by 150 feet, 10,500 square feet: up to 176 homes, at least 2,250 square feet.
- 110 by 200 feet, 22,000 square feet: up to 78 homes, at least 3,000 square feet.
Every lot type allows up to 65% lot coverage and buildings up to 40 feet tall.
Never Late News added up the table. Lots of 6,000 square feet or smaller account for 711 of the 1,061 homes, or 67%. That matches the figure Denton County Commissioner Ryan Williams cited at the meeting, according to the Record-Chronicle. Lots of 7,200 square feet or smaller account for 807 homes, or 76%.
No lot type reaches one acre, which is 43,560 square feet. The largest lots, at 22,000 square feet, are about half an acre. Across the whole property, the plan works out to about 2.7 homes per gross acre, before roads, drainage and open space are subtracted.
Why lot size is the flashpoint
The Record-Chronicle reported that more than 80 property owners signed a petition last month because the plan does not follow the 1-acre minimum lot size required under the current Ray Roberts Lake zoning rules. City Manager John Noblitt told the petition’s organizer at the meeting that the document had no standing on the issue, the paper reported.
Sanger’s Future Land Use Plan, included in the packet, helps explain the land use question. It maps 9,540 of the 15,586 acres in the ETJ, or 61.21%, as Ranch/Estate Residential, and only 53 ETJ acres as Medium Residential. By Never Late News math, this one 387-acre tract is more than seven times the ETJ land now mapped Medium Residential. Moving it to that category is the step that opens the door to the smaller lots.
How the public improvement district would pay for roads and pipes
The proposed Triple T Ranch Public Improvement District would let the city levy assessments on property inside the district to pay for infrastructure there. Future Triple T Ranch homeowners would pay those assessments on top of regular property taxes.
The hearing notice attached to Resolution No. 2026-10 puts the estimated cost of the authorized improvements, including financing and district administration, at $75,500,000. If that cost were spread evenly across 1,061 homes, it would be about $71,159 per home, a Never Late News calculation. The actual split would differ, because the notice says assessments must impose equal shares of the costs on property that is similarly benefited, and owners could pay in full or in annual installments.
The development agreement sets conditions, too. The city’s obligation to issue bonds backed by the assessments depends on a value to lien ratio of at least 3 to 1 when they are issued, unless the city approves a lower ratio, and the agreement sets water and wastewater impact fees of $2,250 and $3,000 per single family lot. Annexation is conditioned on the transfer of Bolivar Water Supply Corp.’s water service area over the property to the city.
How we got here
On Sept. 8, the council voted 5-0 to accept the district petition under Resolution No. 2026-10 and to accept Triple T Farms’ written annexation request, setting the Oct. 5 hearings. Council members Bulger, Burrus, Gann, Newton and Tisdale voted yes, the minutes show.
On Oct. 5, the Record-Chronicle reported, the council voted unanimously to table the developer’s requests until Jan. 19.
The Triple T Ranch plan is one of several Denton County land use fights this fall. We have also covered Denton’s data center rules and the city’s earlier data center moratorium hearings.
What to watch before Jan. 19
- Whether the developer changes the lot mix. The lot table caps each type, so fewer small lots would mean fewer total homes unless the table is rewritten.
- Whether Denton County gets involved, as Williams asked.
- Whether the Bolivar water transfer moves forward, since the agreement makes it a condition of annexation.
How Never Late News reported this
The plan details come from City of Sanger records; the Oct. 5 outcome is attributed to local reporting. Each figure was checked against the source.
- Sanger City Council packet, Oct. 5, 2026: staff summaries, the Sept. 14 Planning and Zoning recommendations, Planned Development lot table and standards, development agreement terms and Future Land Use acreage table.
- Sanger City Council packet, Aug. 17, 2026: Resolution No. 2026-10, the district petition and the attached hearing notice with the $75,500,000 estimate, boundaries and assessment method.
- Sanger City Council packet, Sept. 21, 2026: minutes of the Sept. 8 meeting with the 5-0 votes.
- Denton Record-Chronicle report on the Oct. 5 meeting: the tabling vote, Jan. 19 date, petition and comments by Williams and Noblitt.
The lot shares, the acreage comparison, the density figure and the per home cost are Never Late News calculations from the lot table and the petition. No interviews were conducted for this report. To report an error, email editor@neverlatenews.com.