City of Plano receives a 2023 Municipal Excellence Award for zoning alert tool and response map

During the 2023 Texas Municipal League (TML) Annual Conference and Exhibition in Dallas, the City of Plano received a 2023 Municipal Excellence Award in city spirit for cities over 25,000 in population. The award recognized the City for its Zoning Case Alert Tool and the Zoning Case Response Map. These tools demonstrate the City's commitment to providing innovative, achievable solutions to residents’ concerns. The City is able to provide additional transparency and awareness of zoning, building trust with our community and greater engagement throughout the process.?

Sign up for zoning case alerts: share.plano.gov/Zoning-Case-Alert

The alert tool allows citizens to sign up for emails about new zoning projects in the City, and the response map lets them view the location of the projects and give comments in support, opposition, or neutrality. You can view the current zoning cases using this link and provide a response using the online map .

TML’s Municipal Excellence Awards recognize and encourage the achievements of Texas cities in meeting the challenge of municipal governance.? Innovative problem-solving, excellence in management, increasing citizen participation, and reaching higher service levels are all daily occurrences in Texas cities, and they deserve recognition.? This awards program seeks out the best of these programs to honor.?

The City of Plano is fortunate to have a community that is actively involved in the city government, and especially in the planning process.?

In years past, Plano residents relied on newspapers, mailed letters, and posted signs as a way of notifying residents of zoning cases. While this meets all legal requirements required by the state of Texas, this does not make the best use of modern technology and presents various challenges. Limited access to information and points of contact can subdue public opinion, leaving planners and public officials to make decisions without the benefit of many important community voices. As the City of Excellence, Plano is committed to exceeding the minimum legal standards.?

City staff developed the Zoning Case Alert Tool to make the zoning process more accessible and transparent for citizens and stakeholders. The tool allows citizens to sign up to receive emails regarding new zoning projects located in one, multiple, or all ZIP codes within the city limits. When a new zoning project is submitted, citizens receive an email listing the project(s), its description, staff contacts, as well as links to provide feedback on the zoning cases.

City staff have observed citizen responses are now arriving earlier in the zoning process instead of closer to the public hearing. These early responses address an issue staff is often faced with, in which zoning projects are tabled late in the process to address citizen concerns. With the Zoning Case Alert Tool, citizens are notified when a zoning case is submitted and are able to communicate early with staff and developers to negotiate for options that are a better fit for the community. Over time, this creates mutually beneficial partnerships as residents have the opportunity to assist in the development process and developers are more likely to have their projects approved.

The Zoning Case Alert Tool and the Zoning Case Response Map demonstrate the City of Plano’s commitment to providing innovative achievable solutions to residents’ concerns.

For information about how to speak or register an opinion at an upcoming Planning & Zoning Commission or City Council meeting, please visit the Planning & Zoning Commission Agenda page or City Council Agenda page respectively.