With a packed audience in the city council chambers watching, the Plano City Council unanimously approved a zoning change on 156.3 acres of land at the southwest corner of Plano Parkway and Alma Drive to urban mixed-use in its meeting Oct. 27.

The new zoning allows developer Rosewood Property Company to build an urban mixed-use village that is proposed to include residential properties, restaurants, retail, office space, a hotel, parks and pedestrian bridges. The property is expected to serve as a live, play, and work neighborhood anchored by a major corporation, said Scott Polikov with Gateway Planning. He also said the development will include a wide variety of housing, such as urban single family, townhomes and multifamily units.

The project incorporates two phases, with the first centering around Pittman Creek. Director of Planning Christina Day said developers are looking at open space as a primary functional area that would include some office and retail use but primarily restaurants and residential. The second phase includes more dense development with offices, retail and a main street as the city urban mixed-use zoning requires.

Polikov said developers want to make the area a regional destination that attracts more people into central Plano, much like what West Plano's Shops at Legacy mixed-use development has done.

"We see this as a partnership with the neighborhoods, we see this as an opportunity to bring this part of Plano the variety that it desires. This is a globally diverse part of Texas," Polikov said.

Many audience members donning green badges with the words "Yes Rosewood" participated in the public hearing, sharing the desires of public feedback from the city's comprehensive plan process in regards to more urban mixed-use development.

Matt Dorsett, a 17-year resident of the Pittman Creek neighborhood, said the project offers an opportunity for more people to join the community as well as maintain the level of contentment with current residents in surrounding neighborhoods.

"I see the multifamily [lots] as an opportunity for young college graduates, young professionals, to move into my neighborhood that I love so much and begin falling in love with it as well," he said. "I think it's critical to the success of a community that the people who live there want to stay there and reinvest in it."

Other highlights of those in favor of the Rosewood project include the increased property values to nearby homes as more professional development enters the central Plano area, in contrast to the current strip malls and various stores nearby.

"I think [the Rosewoood development is] a highly preferable option to the patchwork commercial development that's going [in] along Plano Parkway," Dorsett said.

Several audience members in opposition of the zoning change were residents of North Dallas Estates which is located adjacent to Plano Parkway and west of Alma Drive. Major complaints stemmed from noise and traffic congestion, specifically with concerns on Westwood Drive as it is currently the only connecting street from 15th Street to Plano Parkway.

"It's a beautiful complex, it's very impressive and I like it, but I don't like it right next door to us. I don't think Plano Parkway, Custer Road or Westwood is designed to handle the size [the development] is going to become with the number of people."

Before the council voted, Mayor Harry LaRosiliere addressed the audience by sharing the intentions of the council members.

"This [development] is the opportunity to continue what is effectively become a renaissance in our city. We want to give young folks that opportunity you have to enjoy Plano as well," he said.