PLANO (1080 KRLD)- The Plano City Council has repealed the Plano Tomorrow Plan after years of pressure from community members who were upset over provisions allowing for the development of more high-density apartments in the city. The vote came at a City Council meeting Wednesday and followed a court ruling in July that allowed a group founded by opponents of the plan to proceed with their lawsuit.
"Citizen input has always been overwhelmingly against adoption of this plan because of its high-density provisions," said Colleen Epstein during Wednesday's Council meeting. "Our population density in Plano long exceeded the capacity of our infrastructure. We need a moratorium on multi-family resident construction."
The Council also heard from some supporters of the plan before taking the final vote.
"I believe that no neighborhood should experience sudden and radical change, but I also believe that no neighborhood should be exempt from any change at all," said Kevin Butler, who lives in an apartment. "When I hear that much of the opposition to this plan centers on apartments, I can't help but to hear that people like me are not welcome in Plano."
The Council voted to repeal the plan and send it back to the Comprehensive Plan Review Committee. Plano's Mayor said he hoped the vote would put an end to the heated debate which has surrounded the issue for several years.
"The Plano Tomorrow Plan is an award-winning plan that has many tremendous features to it. The area of contention is the density in the apartments," said Mayor Harry LaRosiliere. "I think when it's all said and done, the plan as a structure and a chassis is fantastic...and we'll probably see most of it come back. The area where we're looking for our committee to the heavy lifting is coming to some common ground on the density issue."
He urged the supporters of the plan and opponents to focus on finding common ground instead of rehashing old grievances.
"What has changed right now is a true desire from our community to move forward. The comment was said that it was a divisive plan. The plan is not divisive, people are, " he said. "Our rhetoric and the way we have approached this has brought us to this point, but that's all behind us. We have a window here to solve our problem in an amicable way."