Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Use Zoning topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Plano council adopts expressway corridor overlay and related comprehensive plan updates
Summary
Plano City Council approved zoning ordinance changes to create an expressway corridor overlay district and a companion comprehensive plan amendment that transfer existing Environmental Health Area rules into zoning regulations and standardize mitigation for development along expressways.
Plano City Council on a 7-0 vote approved changes to the city's zoning ordinance and a companion amendment to the comprehensive plan that create an expressway corridor overlay and move existing environmental-health guidance into the zoning code.
The ordinance, filed as zoning case 2024-25, and the comprehensive plan amendment (Comprehensive Plan Amendment 2024-1) are intended to standardize mitigation for development along expressway corridors, preserve land for economic development, and simplify application of measures that had previously required site-specific Environmental Health Area (EHA) studies.
Christina Day, the city's director of planning, told the council the update would transfer the comp plan's EHA designations into conditional and restricted zones within the zoning ordinance, keep existing boundaries unchanged, prohibit residential uses in the restricted area closest to the corridor, and adopt standard parking-garage design elements for high-visibility corridors. "This is a request to update the zoning ordinance requirements for development in our expressway corridors," Day said, noting the change is intended to reduce time and cost by replacing repeated site-specific EHA studies with standard mitigation strategies.
Councilman Horne asked for confirmation that the EHA boundaries would not change and that the prior EHA 1/2 categories would be renamed to conditional and restricted corridor areas; Day confirmed both points. The Planning and Zoning Commission recommended the zoning amendment subject to the comp plan amendment by an 8-0 vote. No members of the public signed up to speak.
The council's action implements the expressway corridor environmental-health map's mitigation approaches in the zoning code rather than as separate plan guidance; the administration said waivers remain available where warranted. The ordinances include a penalty, repealer, severability and effective-date clauses as typical. Council members voted 7-0 to approve the ordinance and companion comprehensive-plan amendment.
The approvals are intended to streamline review for developers proposing sensitive uses near expressway corridors while retaining the city's stated economic-development objectives and protections for residents near high-speed roadways.
