The city of Plano hosted its first community open house at The Shops at Willow Bend on July 8 for residents to learn more about the incoming Dallas Stars arena.
The city will host its second open house July 14 from 6-8 p.m. Residents can arrive at the event through the Equinox and Crate & Barrel entrance at the mall.
What you need to know
The city is sharing baseline information for residents on traffic, parking, lighting, noise and neighborhood quality of life regulations already available in the city. Residents can learn more about regulations and studies under consideration during Stars arena development.
Residents can also participate in a survey shared during the open house to provide additional input for the project. Residents unable to participate in the open houses can do a virtual tour from July 8-22 online.
Dig deeper
Senior City Planner Robyn Kirk said the main goal of the open houses is for residents to have a baseline understanding of city regulation before planning for the arena.
“The city doesn’t have any plans to change our standards and how resident’s lives will be impacted by this,” Kirk said.
Senior City Planner John Kim said the closest comparison the city has to how the Stars arena may impact residents is the Toyota Stadium in Frisco.
“[The sites] are quite similar in that there’s a lot of vehicular traffic,” he said. “We want to use that as a comparison and local residents will have some experience with that.”
Next steps
The city plans to have a traffic modeling and mobility analysis to see more of how the new entertainment district will impact nearby roadways, intersections, parking, pedestrian access and traffic flow in the area. Senior Planner Marium Zahir said the city could also consider a noise study for the project.
The city will then develop a final project and finance plan to adopt at a future city council meeting, per previous reporting.
