Neighborers ask council to reduce height, improve screening for proposed Watermere senior living

A Plano resident told the City Council Sept. 8 that she supports a proposed senior living development but urged changes to reduce its impact on adjacent single-family homes. Angela Navarette, who said she lives on Atlanta Drive across from the proposed site, asked the council and developers to step down building heights and add layered screening, warm-shaded lighting and operational controls for loading and trash. Navarette said many longtime residents of the El Dorado neighborhood were not directly notified because their streets lack a homeowners association, and she asked the developer to "lower and stepping the building down along the neighborhood side so it fits next to the single family homes." She said the project as currently planned includes a five-story building that is "very tall for the neighboring community" and that traffic at commute times is already congested on Atlanta and Boston drives. Navarette asked the council and Watermere's development team to place loading, trash and service access on the west side of the building away from homes, to use "fully shielded fixtures aimed away from the homes with no bright white LEDs," and to provide walkable connections so neighborhood residents can continue to reach nearby shops. Her remarks were delivered during the meeting—9s public comment period; the council did not take action on the project during the Sept. 8 session. Navarette also referenced Senate Bill "S B 8 40" in the course of remarks about future development precedents; she said she feared this project could set a pattern for taller structures in the area. No formal zoning vote or staff presentation on the Watermere project was recorded in the Sept. 8 meeting minutes provided with the transcript.