The Collin County Business Alliance partnered with the Plano Chamber of Commerce and the Plano Rotary Club last week to host a Plano mayoral candidate forum. With a packed room at the Capital One Conference Center, Mayor Harry LaRosiliere, Lily Bao, and Bill Lisle III fielded questions from the events moderator, newsman Scott Sams of KRLD-AM. Douglas Reeves, a fourth candidate in the race, did not attend.
Plano has been a hot spot for development in recent years. The city’s 2016 executive summary report listed 22 companies that either relocated to the city or expanded within the city, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Fannie Mae, and Stream Data Centers. But now that those moves have taken place, where do the mayoral candidates think the city’s developments will go next?
“What I would like to see is very careful, smart development that does not jeopardize or take away from the suburban distinctiveness of Plano,” said Bao, adding that the city only has five percent of vacant land available. “I think we can still grow, but we will be growing smart and with quality development only. We will not be growing like 20 years ago. The goal of any growth would be to benefit the people, the residents here in Plano, as well as be beneficial to the business that’s coming in.”
For Lisle, continuing to attract top talent would be a priority. “Healthy things grow,” he said. “Plano staying the same is going backwards—it’s not progress.”
LaRosiliere sees future growth opportunities in multifamily building. He said Plano is growing about 1 percent annually from a residential standpoint, adding about 2,500 people per year. “The businesses that come here, we can’t absorb those people, they’re basically moving north of us,” he said. “The opportunities for new residents will be in some of our mixed-use developments.… We see that, actually, as a way to facilitate, reduce traffic.”
He mentioned that “anecdotal comments” from Legacy West say that probably 80 percent of those who work there also live within a mile of the location. In other words, most are not adding to congestion on the Dallas North Tollway.
“The next two or three years, there’s absolutely nothing I, or anybody else, can do to change the trajectory,” LaRosiliere said. “Our job is to look 10, 15, 20 years beyond.”
According to the forum, just 5.7 percent of Plano’s registered voters cast their ballots in the last city election. Early voting begins on April 24th, and election day is May 6th.
