Plano City Council Preview - February 22, 2021

First, for those seeking help and resources in the aftermath of last week's freeze and utility crisis, please see this page, which I will keep updated with information.

Second, I want to offer an enormous THANK YOU to all of the City of Plano staff who snapped into emergency response mode last week to work tirelessly and responsively to address the numerous needs of our community. You showed what it truly means to be the City of Excellence.

We're in the council chambers on Monday, but the public's only option is to participate remotely. The council meeting will be livestreamed on both PlanoTV.org and on the City of Plano Facebook page. If you wish to speak at the meeting, you may register here by 4:00 PM Monday. Please register ONLY if you wish to speak. You may alternatively share your thoughts by emailing councilcomments@plano.gov by 4:00 PM Monday.

Executive Session

• Economic Development - discuss a financial incentive

• Personnel Discussions regarding both the City Manager and City Attorney

Preliminary Open Meeting (starts whenever Executive Session ends)

(Review agenda here)

• Interim Member: Senior Advisory Board

• Comprehensive Monthly Financial Report

• Annual Chlorine/Water Maintenance Presentation

• Request for Extension of Line of Duty Leave - Firefighter Jason McGraw

• Weather Crisis Update

Regular Meeting (starts at 7:00 PM)

Note: the Consent Agenda is at the bottom of this post.

(Review agenda here).

Board and Commission Appointments

• Community Relations Commission: Stephanie Mace

• Parks and Recreation Planning Board: Lauriston Crockett

Comments of Public Interest: every meeting, anyone can speak about anything for up to three minutes, with 30 total minutes allotted for this segment.

Items for Individual Consideration

NOTE: notable items from the Consent Agenda are at the bottom of this post.

• Item (1): Ordinance to provide a total of $66,113 in city property tax relief across 87 Heritage Resources as allowed by the Heritage Tax Exemption Program Ordinance

• Item (2): Rezone 5.3 acres of land at the northwest corner of K Avenue and Park from Corridor Commercial to a Planned Development for 226 units of low-income multifamily housing. Council voted to sell this land to the Plano Housing Authority back on October 26, 2020 (see my video recap). We were told at the time that the sale of the land was a decision purely about the sale to the highest bidder, not about the land use, which would be a future decision (see the meeting video at 10:00 in). That future decision is tomorrow

Notable Consent Agenda Items

(Total of $3,671,338 of your money +$971,500 in TIRZ funds in proposed expenses)

• Item (c): $199,700 for restoration of the Interurban Rail Car

• Item (f): $1,614,245 for five refuse trucks and bodies

• Item (g): $889,950 for Tom Muehlenbeck Center Pump Room Repairs

• Item (i): $220,740 for a wet weather flow monitoring study for the Lower White Rock Creek & North Dallas Trunk Basins to determine the source of high wet-weather flows. The idea is that this will let us know what to do to mitigate the high wastewater flow, and reduce drainage costs

• Item (l): $249,950 for construction plans for the removal and replacement of the 35-year-old South Restroom at Bob Woodruff Park (I’m checking to see if this is separate from the restroom renovations envisioned in the Parks Bond Proposal

• Item (n): $971,500 in an economic incentive to InTown Homes to redevelop the site of the Old First Baptist Church in Downtown Plano. This will use TIRZ (Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone) funds unanimously approved by the TIRZ #2 Board of Directors. TIRZ funds are taxes collected in a specifically defined zone for use toward improvements in that zone

Review City Council agendas and minutes here (updated link--bookmark it!).