It may be one of the last corners of Plano where you can see cattle lazily grazing on farmland just off a major road, but future development may be inevitable. The City of Plano says it’s working to set out its vision for the area near Collin College’s Spring Creek Campus in East Plano.
Monday night, city planners briefed Plano’s Planning and Zoning Commission on an updated draft of the “Envision Oak Point” plan, which would serve as a policy document to help the city plan land use and consider future development.
The latest version of the plan included modifications based on feedback from people who leave nearby, mainly addressing the number of apartments. Monday, city planners say the number of potential future apartments would be dropped to 990 units.
“They’re trying to do the planning and I don’t fault them for that,” said East Plano resident Bob Bradford. “Every place around here is growing.”
Bradford said he and his wife moved into their neighborhood along Jupiter Road nearly three years ago. They were looking to downsize from a larger home in Richardson and were charmed by the farms nearby.
He says he attended some of the public meetings where city staff asked area residents to weigh in. Bradford says his biggest question is whether new apartments should fit into the vision for the area and whether they would impact traffic.
“It’s hard enough getting out onto Jupiter as it is,” said Bradford.
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But AJ Angus, who also lives nearby and attended some of the public meetings, was excited about the vision city planners laid out.
“If you look at their plans they’re really trying to make it navigable, not just for cars but for people on bikes and people walking and just make it very pedestrian friendly,” said Angus. “It’s very exciting.”
He says he welcomes more apartments as an opportunity to maintain diversity in East Plano and provide more housing for people who want to live in the area.
At Monday’s Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, city staff said it reduced the number of apartments and is proposing smaller, single family lots for portions of the area.
Early plans also called for a new road to connect Legacy Drive and Los Rios Boulevard, but planners scrapped that idea based on community feedback.
The latest revised draft is expected to be released to the public by the end of the week.
Planning and Zoning will consider the new draft at its April 2 meeting. The public will be able to weigh in. If approved, the Envision Oak Point plan then goes to the full city council.
