Committee revisits embattled Plano Tomorrow plan

PLANO, Texas - The embattled Plano Tomorrow plan brought a crowd to Monday’s planning and zoning committee meeting.

City leaders have to make a decision about how to move forward with a long-term development plan after citizens forced them to address it.

There is now an unofficial new plan to hire a consultant to work with a committee to revise Plano Tomorrow and create the ‘Plano Unity 2020’ plan.

People in Plano have been fighting for years over what the future of Plano should look like.

The Plano Tomorrow plan wound up in a legal battle when residents sued the city, hoping the plan would be put to a vote of the people. Last month, a judge ruled against that and decided in favor of the city.

The city now says the plan is for the city to hire a consultant to work with a council-appointed committee of citizens to revise the Plano Tomorrow plan and adopt what could be called the Plano Unity 2020 plan.

A vote of the planning and zoning commission Monday night was the first procedural step. Commission members listened to public comment before. It was as contentious as ever.

“I have seen this place change from one school, one fire department, one red light to what we have today. That’s progress,” a citizen said. “But we need to keep this progress under control.”

“I paid a premium price to live here,” another resident said. “If I wanted to live surrounded by apartments, I could’ve moved to Addison and save a lot of money.”

Allan Samara with the Plano Citizens Coalition is part of the group that has sued the city. Among other things, they are concerned that the city will build big apartment complexes and make Plano too urban.

“The most egregious parts of the plan are the land use parts of the plan,” Samara said. “High density housing. That means a hundred families to the acre. Very concentrated stuff.”

On the other side, Steven Lavine with Stand Up 4 Plano wants business growth to support the tax base.

“The idea that Plano is going to return to some suburban life that has been gone for decades is not realistic,” he said.

But there is agreement on the idea of having a consultant work with citizens to make revisions to the Plano Tomorrow plan could be a good thing.

The big concern is apartments. There are ideas floating that that could be what is revised in the plan.