Speaker numbers apply only to this recording. Names come from transcript evidence. “Possibly” marks uncertain attribution.
The City of Plano Planning and Zoning Commission met at 6:00 PM on October 20, 2025, with Chair Rashley presiding. The Commission approved a rezoning and specific use permit for a 15-unit townhome development and received a presentation on the city’s updated housing study. Public testimony was heard on the townhome proposal.
Item 1: Rezoning and Specific Use Permit for Townhomes (1A & 1B) Staff presented a request to rezone 3.2 acres from Agricultural to Single Family Attached (SFA) with a Specific Use Permit (SUP) for a private street subdivision, and approval of the associated concept plan. The 2.3-acre site proposes 15 attached units with detached garages, a one-way slip road, and an alley connecting to an adjacent multifamily property in The Colony. Staff recommended approval subject to stipulations: gated access to the west, minimum setbacks and landscape buffers, and no access to Red Wolf Lane. The applicant (Susilo Pena and Lucy Billingsley) described concessions made to neighbors, including reducing units from 16 to 15, self-restricting building height to 25 feet (below the SFA maximum of 35 feet), and closing all access to Red Wolf Lane. Senior traffic engineer Chad Ostrander noted the development would generate about 8 peak-hour trips, and planned measures such as no U-turn signs and potential speed bumps to discourage cut-through traffic. Commission discussion centered on traffic flow, fire access, and screening. Commissioner Bronsky moved to approve Item 1A with an added stipulation for a controlled access gate; the motion passed 5-1. Item 1B (concept plan) was approved 5-1, subject to City Council approval of 1A and fire code variances.
Item 2: Housing Study Presentation Drew Bronner (Comprehensive Planning Manager) and Shanette Eden (Housing and Community Services Manager) presented the 2025 Housing Study, which updates the 2018 analysis. Key findings include: widespread housing cost burden (over 30% of income on housing), a mismatch between projected job incomes (over 40% of new jobs with incomes around $80,000) and home prices (median sales price $530,905 in 2023), limited affordable larger homes, and an aging population constraining supply. The study recommends a diversity of housing types and will inform future zoning evaluations. Commissioners discussed the need for regional coordination, alternative housing types (duplexes, townhomes, etc.), and the challenge of balancing affordability with community character. No vote was taken.
Meeting adjourned at 8:30 PM.
Welcome to the October 20th Planning and Zoning Commission of the City of Plano. I call a meeting to order at 6 o'clock PM. If all would please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Thank you. We've got kind of an echo in here. One moment, we're having a technical difficulty. Okay. Should be good to go. Okay, that's about that sounds better. Thank you. All right. We do have uh three commissioners absent this evening. Uh Commissioners Tong, Bender, and Ali. Um we believe Commissioner Ali is on his way. Hopefully he'll join us here shortly. So public interest. Comments of public interest. This portion of the meeting is to allow up to three minutes per speaker with 30 total minutes on items of interest or concern and not on items that are on the current agenda. The planning and zoning commission may not discuss these items but may respond with factual or policy information. Planning and zoning commission may choose to place the item on a future agenda. The presiding officer may modify these times as deemed necessary. We have one speaker. Good evening, sir. If you'll just state your name and address for the record, please, Chairman Rashley. And the commissioners and staff. And I especially am glad to see Mr. Mike Bell sitting here. And I make public profession right now that I forgive him for all the grief he's caused me throughout the years. And I look forward to uh Mr. Drew Bronner for uh reconciling all of that grief for all these years. Anyway, for the record, I'm Bob Pennell. I'm a 45-year resident of Plano, Texas, living at 3209 Winchester on the West Side. I'm also a member of Plano Masonic Lodge number 768 AF and AM and have been since 1985 when I'm affiliated when I moved here from San Antonio. I'm a past master and the current secretary director of its affiliated North Texas Masonic Historical Museum and Library. My purpose, Mr. Chairman, tonight, is to thank not only the Commission, but especially to thank your first vice chair, Commissioner Bronsky, who graced us two weekends, two Saturdays ago with his lovely lady when we celebrated 100 years occupancy of possibly the most notable downtown historic landmark and designated heritage resource, the Moore House Plano Lodge Building. And we thank him for being there. He was there when the mayor gave us a proclamation and even set through the presentation, which was a long history of what we had done there from 1924 and even before until the present day. But we thank you, the commissioners, for dedicating your time, devoting your service. That's something we as Masons understand. And because of you, you've made our life better, our city prominent, and you've made masonry possible. Thank you. And thank you, Vice Chair Bronsky, and tell your lovely lady she was awfully gracious to us before she left.