The city of Fort Worth will not be the final arbiter of the tree tiff between Sundance Square Management and downtown business advocacy nonprofit Downtown Fort Worth Inc.

Instead the city instructed both sides to settle their differences over downtown tree and plant maintenance after a decades-old handshake deal was thrown out in January.

“My sincere hope is that both parties can come to a mutual agreement which will meet the objectives of everyone involved, which is a safe, vibrant and beautiful downtown district,” economic development director Robert Sturns wrote in a letter to representatives of Sundance Square and Downtown Fort Worth Inc.

Downtown Fort Worth Inc. contracts with the city to manage a downtown district that uses money from a dedicated property tax to maintain city property, including plants and trees. Before this dispute, Downtown Fort Worth Inc. had a handshake deal with Sundance Square to let Sundance manage some trees and plants around its own 37-block property.

Tensions began to bubble up in 2021 after representatives from Downtown Fort Worth Inc. tried unsuccessfully to get Sundance Square to fill empty planter beds around its property after the winter freeze, according to an email to the city from Andy Taft, president of Downtown Fort Worth Inc.

Sundance Square employees and even Sundance Square co-owner Sasha Bass rebuffed attempts by Downtown Fort Worth Inc. contractors to fill the empty planter beds, according to a letter from Downtown Fort Worth Inc.’s lawyers sent to the city.

Fort Worth City Council member Elizabeth Beck, whose district includes downtown, tried to resolve the conflict during a meeting with representatives from both organizations in November.

Beck instructed both sides to throw out the informal agreement and put any future agreements in writing.

Sundance Square submitted a proposed agreement in January, but it was rejected by an an advisory board overseeing the special downtown district managed by Downtown Fort Worth Inc.

Sundance appealed the board’s decision to Sturns who is responsible for adjudicating complaints about the management of the city’s special taxing districts.

After a five-month review, Sturns instructed both organizations to settle their differences and enshrine that resolution in writing.

He pointed to an agreement between Downtown Fort Worth Inc. and the City Center Towers that allows City Center to manage certain planters around its property.

Sturns wrote the arrangement between City Center and Downtown Fort Worth Inc. it could serve as a model for an agreement between Downtown Fort Worth Inc. and Sundance Square.

While each side had slightly different interpretations of the city’s decision, both acknowledged they are negotiating an agreement to put the dispute behind them.

This story was originally published August 25, 2022 4:26 PM.