WHY WAS A NEW COMPREHENSIVE PLAN NEEDED?
On November 11, 2019, the Plano City Council appointed a 16-member ad-hoc advisory committee called the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee (CPRC). The role of the CPRC was to review the city’s Comprehensive Plan and recommend updates to address community concerns related to four key topics: Land Use, Transportation, Density, and Growth Management. They were also to act as advisors and ambassadors of the planning process, working with the Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) to find consensus among the diverse viewpoints of city residents.
On August 5, 2020, the City Council repealed the previous Comprehensive Plan and adopted an “Interim Plan” to serve as a temporary replacement until the CPRC and P&Z could complete their work. The Interim Plan was based on the city’s comprehensive plan from 1986, including subsequent updates through 2012. Although this Plan had previously served the city well for many years, its goals and policies were rooted in the days of Plano’s rapid growth and were not well-suited for the challenges of a mature and mostly developed city as Plano is today.
After 20 months, the CPRC and P&Z completed their work and moved forward a draft plan for public comment and review. On November 8, 2021, the City Council adopted the Comprehensive Plan 2021. Much of the new Plan may look familiar, as aspects of the previous Comprehensive Plan outside the four topic areas assigned by City Council, such as policies related to the environment, social services, and the economy, remain largely unchanged. However, significant changes were made to many of the most impactful parts of the Plan, and important new content was created, including a set of Guiding Principles, a Redevelopment & Growth Management Policy, and Future Land Use Dashboards.