Since 1969, when his father bought Plano Barbers on 15th Street in Plano, James Russell has seen the city’s downtown area evolve.
Russell, who took over the business in 1992, said he even played a part in that evolution about 20 or 25 years ago. Downtown was suffering greatly, he said. Vacant buildings lined the streets. So Russell pushed for the widening of 15th Street. Former Plano City Manager Tom Muehlenbeck and other leaders worked to make that vision happen.
As soon as we widened it, downtown began to flourish again,” Russell said.
He fears Plano’s Thoroughfare Standards update will erase that progress. City leaders say they want to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment downtown by adding on-street parking, wider sidewalks, street trees, bicycle facilities and reducing the travel lanes. These changes all support the direction in which downtown is headed, officials say, but shop owners think it will slow traffic, impact property value and negatively affect business, 95% of which Russell said comes from outside of the area.
“I’ve been looking out that front window for 54 years,” said Russell, 61. “Who do you think knows more about downtown?”
Plano Barbers owner James Russell (right) grooms Richardson resident customer, Joe Elkington…
Plano Barbers owner James Russell (right) grooms Richardson resident customer, Joe Elkington ahead of Elkington’s wedding, Thursday, June 8, 2023, at Plano Barbers in Plano. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
The Thoroughfare Standards is a document that outlines the rules for transportation infrastructures — how streets, sidewalks, traffic calming and other street elements are designed. Plano is updating the standards that had been in place since 2009, according to Michael Bell, comprehensive planning manager.
City leaders began to reassess how it designed select streets in the context of their land use, Bell told The Dallas Morning News. For a while, all streets, regardless of their context, were held to the same standards. Bell said city officials looked at Plano’s Thoroughfare Plan and discovered that the old city-wide plan doesn’t work in the downtown area.
“The streets are generally much wider than we have available right of way, so we said we need to come back to a specific plan for downtown that’s detailed and customized, tailored to the needs of downtown,” Bell said.
Following the advice of traffic engineers, Bell said downtown doesn’t need the amount of lanes currently present on the 14th and 15th street corridors, and that introduces opportunities for street and intersection improvements. As for slowing traffic, Bell said, that is part of making the area more walkable.
“Right now, if you walk on 14th Street, they are zipping right by you,” Bell said. “…We’re trying to make downtown a destination that you go to, not that you just drive through.”
Traffic passes along the intersection of K Ave. and 15th St. on Thursday, June 8, 2023, in…
Traffic passes along the intersection of K Ave. and 15th St. on Thursday, June 8, 2023, in Plano. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
Years ago, the city altered K Avenue in a way similar to what is now being proposed for other downtown streets, Bell said. The street used to be three lanes and was narrowed to two. On-street parking was added to both sides. Bell said those changes have been successful for downtown as it grows and develops.
Plano still needs eyes on the storefronts, however, and making downtown more attractive will achieve that, Bell said.
But Connor Chaddick, president of Chaddick Corporation and owner of two buildings downtown, said the city has not communicated well about the project.
“They don’t want to say what the design criteria is,” Chaddick said. ” … I find out from Council that what’s being stated to the Council and what we’re actually seeing down here sometimes are two different things.
” …They want to say ‘Oh, I got community input.’ …But they don’t do it.”
Yet, Bell said the city has been in communication with the business owners on 14th and 15th streets. Along with holding several meetings at Planning and Zoning Commission to work through the ideas and holding a public outreach meeting in March for more details about the plan, Bell said the city met with the Historic Downtown Plano Association, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving the history of downtown and embracing its developments.
“From that, we heard some concerns, so we’ve been meeting individually with folks,” Bell said.
“… We’re doing our best to reach out as much as we can. There’s a wide variety of views about this, so we’re trying to take in all inputs.”
Traffic passes along 15th St. on Thursday, June 8, 2023, in Plano.
Traffic passes along 15th St. on Thursday, June 8, 2023, in Plano. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
Chaddick said he’d rather the city not rely on HDPA because “those are merchants groups and owners associations for beautification” that don’t represent the downtown owners. “That’s not their mission or goals, so I don’t want to say we got community input from this.”
The business owner said he received the first draft of what Plano’s Street Design Standards would look like in March.
Based on a May 23 draft of Plano’s Street Design Standards that the city shared with him, Chaddick created a list of questions about the plan for downtown. Chaddick said he presented them to the city on June 1 during a meeting with officials.
But at that meeting, Chaddick said the city presented an entirely new draft with new changes.
“I was expecting our meeting on 6/1 to be over the (May 23) draft,” Chaddick said. “It wasn’t. It was on a new plan, which is different. And it was a thoroughfare plan.”
Chaddick and Russell said they’ve both heard from other downtown shop owners that they have not been made aware of the plans and that no one has contacted them.
A longtime resident with family roots in the city, Chaddick said he respects Plano’s leaders and wants the city’s east side to flourish and grow. “But I want to do it to the point that the people that built this community are rewarded for it, and that’s not what I believe is transpiring by their approach here.”
Russell said he feels similarly.
“We the business owners and the building owners and property owners down there have built downtown,” the barber said. “Now, I’m not to say the city has not helped, but when it comes to getting us more parking and keeping things vibrant down there, that’s been up to the business owners and the building owners.”
