Plano panel approves rezoning for 15 townhomes at Windhaven and Red Wolf with gating, buffers

Plano's Planning and Zoning Commission voted 5-1 Oct. 20 to approve a rezoning from agricultural to single-family attached and an associated concept plan for 15 townhome units on a roughly 2.3-acre site at the southwest corner of Windhaven Parkway and Red Wolf Lane, subject to conditions including a controlled-access gate to the adjacent property, minimum setbacks, and prescribed landscape screening.

Staff told the commission the request includes two parts: rezoning the property to the single-family attached (SFA) district and a specific-use permit (SUP) to allow a private-street subdivision. Interim lead planner Molly Coriel said the concept shows 15 attached units with detached garages served by an alley and a one-way slip road parallel to Windhaven. Coriel recommended approval "because the request is in conformance with the comprehensive plan and the future land use map," and summarized staff stipulations requiring that access to the western adjacent property be gated, no access be provided to Red Wolf Lane, a minimum 15-foot setback from the southern property line (including a 10-foot landscape buffer), and a minimum 6-foot landscape screen adjacent to Red Wolf Lane. Coriel also noted that approval of the concept plan is subject to city council action on the related zoning case and that Plano Fire Rescue must approve any International Fire Code variances before site plan approval.

The applicant said the design intentionally places denser elements away from existing single-family neighborhoods. Susilo Pena, representing the applicant, told the commission the project was revised after meetings with area homeowners associations: "We started out with 16 units on four buildings, and we now have 15 units on three buildings," and the team agreed to close off access to Red Wolf Estates and to limit building height and massing to be compatible with nearby development. The project will include 10 two-bedroom and 5 three-bedroom townhomes with detached garages; Juan Torres provided net rentable areas of about 1,355 square feet for two-bedroom units and 1,731 square feet for three-bedrooms.

Residents and HOA representatives offered mixed views. Bianca Martinez, president of the Midway Park homeowners association, characterized the developer's revisions as a reasonable compromise and said the site's small size makes a controlled, consistent product preferable to unpredictable alternatives. Multiple nearby homeowners voiced concerns about privacy, noise, trash and rodent problems adjacent to existing townhomes and urged stronger screening and a traffic analysis. Tatiana Ramirez told the commission her yard faces existing townhomes and said persistent problems including loud music, discarded trash and occasional firecrackers have continued despite repeated requests to adjacent property managers.

Commissioners probed safety and circulation. Chad Ostrander, the city's senior traffic engineer, said the site's driveway spacing meets Plano's street design standard (roughly a 50-foot tangent) and that residential trip generation is low: "residential units are the lowest trip generation type of land use...about 0.6 trips per unit in the peak hour," which for 15 units produces only a handful of peak-hour trips. Commissioners nonetheless asked staff and the applicant to add measures to discourage shortcutting through the slip road (staff indicated no-u-turn signs and other mitigations would be considered) and noted that a hose-lay variance and any required hydrant work must be resolved with fire before site plan approval.

Key clarifications and conditions recorded in the proceedings: the petition originally referenced 3.2 acres for zoning boundaries (to the centerline of adjacent rights-of-way) while the concept plan shows the developable parcel at about 2.3 acres; the SUP requires private streets built to public street standards; carts/bump-outs are required to allow future city cart service but the applicant intends private collection through the adjacent property; garages provide two parking spaces per unit; and final engineering will verify alley widths, turning radii and service access. The applicant said the proposed townhomes are likely to be rented and estimated market rents using an internal figure of about $2.25 per square foot.

Action and next steps: the commission approved the zoning case (Item 1A) with an added stipulation requiring a controlled-access gate for the western connection and then approved the concept plan (Item 1B) "subject to city council approval of zoning case 2025-006 and approval of any variances to the International Fire Code by Plano Fire Rescue prior to site plan approval." Both votes were recorded 5-1. The zoning case will proceed to the City Council for final action; site plan approval and any fire-code variances will be required before construction.

Proof points from the record include staff's finding that the proposal "is in conformance with the comprehensive plan and the future land use map," the applicant's reduction in unit count and voluntary design choices to limit height and preserve trees, the traffic engineer's statement on low peak-hour trip generation, and multiple resident statements requesting stronger screening and analysis of trash and privacy impacts. The commission asked staff to return with final engineering and fire access details during site-plan review.

The commission's approval does not authorize construction; it approves zoning and the concept plan subject to the conditions listed above and to later technical approvals.