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Land use, transportation working
Cory J. Mageors, Staff Writer
While the land use and transportation portion of the Comprehensive Plan is still a year from being complete, the main issues that face the long-term future for Plano are in the forefront for city planners.
“We are focusing right now on the issue list that we will be presenting to the Planning and Zoning Commission. We will introduce those issues to the commission and they will finalize the list,” Senior Planner Kate Perry said.
The land use and transportation sections, however, are revised every two years. Planning and Zoning gathers information from various departments in Plano and analyzes what the best options for the direction of the city will be.
“At this time we will be doing more internal work and developing strategies. We work with the development review staff to make sure that our information and plan is accurate with the trends they see,” said Perry.
Population trends depict how the city will decide to rezone and redevelop their neighborhoods. With precise information from all of the internal Plano departments and the community, future planning can be more closely gauged.
By 2025, four million people are expected to move into the region between Dallas and Oklahoma. With such a drastic spike in residents, Plano sees the need to plan for housing options.
“We are certainly a first tier suburb and other cities surrounding Dallas such as Garland, Irving and Carrolton are experiencing the same type of changes and growth. We will have to look into developing on parcels of land that aren’t currently developed, and look into redeveloping in other areas of the city,” said Director of Planning Phyllis Jarrell.
While Plano has maxed itself out with new residential zoning, it still is able to rebuild. Also, there is still opportunity for land to be developed commercially.
“We are almost even between residential and commercial. We are at 48 percent commercial and 52 percent residential, so we have found a good balance as far as the way we use our land here,” said City Manager Tom Muehlenbeck.
Planning and Zoning had three public meetings in September to address the land use and transportation guidelines for the next two years. They also utilized that time to gather information from the community about what the people expected for the future.
With the pressing issues gathered, the organized facts and statistics will be processed and presented to the city council for a public hearing and approval in early fall of next year.
Senior Planners such as Perry and Steve Simms have been working diligently to maintain the integrity of the city through the document.
“It is certainly an important document, just as each department is important to the city. Plano has always been known for having a superior planning department and we have been very successful with achieving long term goals,” said Muehlenbeck.
On Nov. 20, the Planning and Zoning Commission will be presented with the information gathered by the Planning and Zoning Department at the council chambers. While the process seems lengthy, the diligence of each department is important to the success of the city as a whole.
“I think the City of Plano has done a lot of things really well. They recognize that they are a maturing city and they are constantly making the effort to make sure they keep up with the growth that occurs,” said Perry.
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