Amid heightened interest from developers, the city of Plano is moving to promote redevelopment of a commercial area of its downtown and attract housing for lower-income residents elsewhere in the city. The Plano City Council on Monday approved a measure expanding a downtown neighborhood empowerment zone to encompass a commercial area south of 14th Street to the proposed Cotton Belt Station. Council members also expressed support for two affordable-housing projects seeking state tax credits to locate in Plano. Expanding the neighborhood empowerment zone allows the city to extend to the new area policies that could attract developers, including affordable-housing construction and other varieties of redevelopment. Within this zone, the city can adopt or waive fees, abate property taxes, refund municipal sales taxes and require energy-efficient construction. “These zones are used to lower cost barriers to homeowners and commercial property owners contemplating renovations or new projects,” Director of Special Projects Peter Braster said in an email. When the zone was created in 1999, it included Downtown Plano, Haggard Park and the Douglass and Old Towne neighborhoods. During this time, the city waived building- and sign-permit fees for commercial and single-family new construction and rehabilitation projects.

Affordable housing

In a series of resolutions addressed the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, the Plano City Council announced support for the Artist Lofts and EMLI at Park West projects as developers apply for 9 percent housing tax credits with the state agency. The Artist Lofts, a proposed 139-unit apartment community, plans to locate on a 4.8-acre property located southeast of the intersection of 14th Street and F Avenue. More than three-fourths of the Artists Lofts’ units would be made affordable for households between 30 and 60 percent of the area’s median income, according to a memo from city staff. The other proposed project, EMLI at Park West, would consist of 144 units for tenants ages 55 and older, more than two-thirds of which would be made affordable enough for this lower income range. The senior community would be built on a 22.7-acre property northeast of the intersection of Cross Bend Road and Thunderbird Lane.

Bond proposal

City staff also announced that since Dec. 20 more than $31 million has been trimmed from the 2017 bond proposal that could be sent to voters later this year. The bond package now totals just over $226 million, Karen Rhodes-Whitley, director of the city budget department, told Council members on Monday. The final public hearing for the 2017 bond proposal will take place at the Jan. 23 city council meeting.