You are eight days into a Texas option period on a home inside the gates. The inspection is scheduled, the survey is ordered, and your builder is already sketching a single-story primary wing off the back and a detached studio over the garage. None of that is the diligence that will decide whether your offer still makes sense on day fifteen.
The diligence that matters is a short drive to 5824 Merrymount Road and a request for the file. Westover Hills is not a Fort Worth neighborhood. It is its own incorporated town with its own building official, its own adopted code year, and a zoning ordinance that will quietly reprice the renovation you already priced into your offer.
The Address That Governs Your Renovation Is Not Fort Worth's
The Town of Westover Hills adopted the 2015 International Residential Code, with local amendments, and administers it through Director of Community Development Jack Thompson, CBO. Most major Texas cities are working from the 2018 or 2021 IRC, and a growing number are on the 2024 edition. Fort Worth's building department, three miles east across Camp Bowie, is not the department that will review your plans, issue your permit, or send an inspector.
That gap between what your contractor is used to and what Westover Hills actually enforces is the first line item that moves when you pull the file. Structural, energy, and egress assumptions calibrated to a newer code do not automatically transfer to a jurisdiction still working from 2015 with its own amendments layered on top. Your builder's per-square-foot number was quoted against the wrong code year until you tell him otherwise.
Five Lines in Ordinance 09-03 That Reprice Your Scope
The town's Zoning Ordinance 09-03, originally adopted in 1944 and restated in 2009, is short, blunt, and enforceable with per-day fines up to the state maximum. Five of its provisions matter to almost every buyer under contract on an estate here.
- One private single-family residence per lot, and no business use of a residence. Formal home-office buildouts marketed as such, guest-house rentals, and short-term rental strategies are outside the envelope. If your offer assumed any of them, the offer assumed something the town does not permit.
- A minimum of two stories on every dwelling erected or structurally altered. One-story residences are allowed only on sloping lots and only by special Town Council permit. Downsizing buyers planning a single-story rebuild need a variance before they need a builder.
- Carports are not permitted. The exterior car storage program common in warmer climates is off the table entirely.
- Accessory buildings must sit fifteen feet from the side or back property line and cannot occupy the front or side yards. They cannot exceed the height of the main dwelling, must match its architectural style, and cannot be used as living quarters. Pool houses, detached studios, guest cottages, and garage-apartment programs all fit inside this envelope or they do not get built.
- Fences, walls, and hedges cannot sit closer to the street than the building setback line without Town Council approval. The privacy wall in the listing photos may already be a legacy condition. A new one is not a landscaper decision.
Read those five together and a common buyer program starts to change shape. The single-story primary wing needs a slope-lot variance. The detached studio needs to move fifteen feet in, drop below the ridgeline of the main house, and cannot be rented. The carport concept is gone. The privacy wall extension needs Council approval before a footing goes in.
The Variance Path Runs Through Council, Not a Staff Desk
Anything outside the ordinance envelope goes through a Variance Request Form filed with the town, and approval sits with Town Council rather than a staff planner. That is a calendar item, not a paperwork item. A buyer trying to hit a school-year move-in with a substantial renovation needs to know before closing whether the concept requires a variance and, if so, whether the next Council meeting cycle fits the construction schedule they promised themselves.
Replats, needed for any lot-line adjustment on the larger estate parcels, follow the same route.
Every Trade, and the Eventual Estate Sale, Clears Through Town Hall
The town maintains its own applications for Building, Electrical, Plumbing, Mechanical, Pool, Fence, Roof, Sprinkler, and Generator work. Contractor Registration with the Town is required in addition to state licensing, which means the roofer, pool builder, and generator installer you already trust in Fort Worth are not automatically cleared to work inside town limits.
Two items on the same permit list surprise almost every first-time Westover Hills buyer. The town issues its own Estate Sale Permit, which will govern the eventual liquidation if the home is being purchased from a long-tenured estate or if you ever run one yourself. And the ordinance prohibits any temporary storage buildings on the lot during construction, which changes how a long renovation is staged.
None of this is exotic. It is standard for a small, self-governing municipality. It is only surprising because buyers assume Fort Worth rules apply to a Fort Worth ZIP code, and here they do not.
What Belongs Inside the Option Period
The Texas option period is short. Spend part of it at Town Hall.
- Pull the permit history for the property. Ask specifically whether the fence, pool, generator, and any accessory buildings on the lot were permitted and closed out. Unclosed permits belong to the next owner.
- Ask whether any current condition on the property is a preexisting nonconforming structure under Ordinance 09-03. The ordinance grandfathers those, but any structural alteration can trigger a bring-to-code review.
- Walk your builder's renovation concept through the ordinance in writing. Two stories, no carport, fifteen-foot accessory setbacks, no business use, no accessory living quarters, fence line inside the building setback. Flag every item that needs a variance.
- If any item needs a variance, confirm the Town Council meeting cycle and add that timeline to your closing-to-groundbreaking calendar.
- Confirm your contractor and every subcontractor are willing to complete Westover Hills Contractor Registration. Some Fort Worth trades will not, and that changes your bid list.
- Price the renovation against the 2015 IRC with local amendments, not your builder's default assumption.
Do all six inside the option period and the number you offered still means what you thought it meant on day one.
Why This Matters More in the 2026 Market
The urgency around this diligence is a function of the current market, not the ordinance. Greater Fort Worth Association of Realtors 2026 president Shawn Buck described the midyear market as one where buyers and sellers can take a more measured approach than they could during the pandemic years. Citywide, homes were averaging roughly forty-seven days on the market as of July 2026, and the luxury tier has been running independently of the citywide median, with selective buyers and longer decision windows.
That means the option period on a Westover Hills estate in 2026 is genuinely usable. A buyer who spends it inside Town Hall keeps optionality. A buyer who spends it only on the home inspection often discovers on day sixteen that the renovation they underwrote requires a Council item they did not schedule.
FAQ
Does the ordinance apply if I am buying a home that already has a carport or a single-story wing?
Preexisting nonconforming structures are grandfathered under Ordinance 09-03. The exposure is at the moment you propose to structurally alter or replace them, at which point the current ordinance controls.
Can I run a home office from a Westover Hills residence?
Working from home is a common reality across the town. What the ordinance restricts is using a residence to conduct a business in the zoning sense. Client-facing operations, signage, employees on site, and dedicated commercial use are the issues. Have your attorney read the language in context of your specific plan.
Who reviews my plans if I want to build a pool house?
The town's Building department reviews the permit against the accessory-building rules in Ordinance 09-03. Anything outside the envelope, including placement, height relative to the main house, or intended use, needs a Variance Request to Town Council before the pool contractor pulls a permit.
Is my Fort Worth contractor allowed to work inside the gates?
Only after completing Westover Hills Contractor Registration, which is separate from state licensing. Confirm this with your builder before you close, not after.
Estate transactions inside Westover Hills reward the buyer who treats the option period as a municipal diligence window. If you are under contract, or considering an offer, John Zimmerman and the JZ Fort Worth team can help you translate the town's ordinance envelope into a renovation plan that survives closing. Work With Us.
