DEVELOPMENT Council overturns denial, OKs 80 units for a ordable housing
COMPLEX COMING A new a ordable housing complex is planned in northeast Plano. units for low-income tenants 64
BY VALERIE WIGGLESWORTH
part of mixed-use or transit-oriented developments. This area near the Oak Point Park and Nature Preserve does not t either of those development types, according to city documents. The city’s future land-use map puts a priority there on single-family homes. The city also had concerns about the volume of tra c in that area. “The request ... is well outside the character of the surrounding environ- ment,” city sta wrote in their review. On Aug. 18, developers led a formal appeal to the commission’s denial. At its Sept. 20 meeting, Plano City Council voted 8-0 to overturn that vote and approve the rezoning request. As part of the approval, developers agreed to help nance a tra c signal and expansion of Los Rios Boulevard. Council Member Shelby Williams said he used to live in the area and understands the “innumerable problems” with the project.
Developers for a new a ordable housing project in northeast Plano won their appeal in a rezoning case, allowing them to move ahead with an 80-unit complex. Versa Development is planning to build the two-story Juniper Apart- ments on 6.8 acres at the corner of Los Rios Boulevard and Jupiter Road. “This is an opportunity to bring a ordable housing to the city at no cost to the city,” Manish Verma with Versa Development told Plano City Council. On Aug. 15, the Plano Planning & Zoning Commission voted 8-0 against the request to rezone the land from single-family residential to multifamily residential. City sta had also recom- mended denial, stating the project did not align with some guiding policies in Plano’s Comprehensive Plan. City policies recommend new multifamily complexes be built as
rates 16
units at market
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Versa Development is planning to build Juniper Apartments at this northeast Plano site.
SOURCE: CITY OF PLANO COMMUNITY IMPACT
“This is not a great place for such a project, and it has nothing to do with whether it’s a ordable housing, low-income [housing] or anything of the like,” Williams said. But he said the project has been positioned in such a way that the city could face a protracted legal battle if it were denied. “We are trying to do what’s in the best interest long-term for our city so that our zoning decisions remain our own,” Williams said. In July, the Juniper Apartments was
awarded $1.5 million in housing tax credits from the Texas Department of Housing and Community A airs to help nance the project. According to developers, 64 of the 80 units will be set aside for low-income tenants. “Putting housing for low-income families in high-opportunity neigh- borhoods will address the barriers to a ordable housing,” said Ann Lott, executive director of the Dallas-based Inclusive Communities Project, a nonpro t that supports fair housing opportunities for low-income families.
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PLANO SOUTH EDITION • OCTOBER 2022
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