Council Recap: Comp Plan Planning

On May 20, 2024, the Richardson City Council reviewed and discussed the Envision Richardson Comprehensive Plan update and upcoming Community Summit 3. That was the agenda item anyway. In fact any details of the Comp Plan were missing and the plans for the community summit took up all the time.

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Everyone had feedback on efforts to get more feedback from the community on what the public wants the future of Richardson to look like. Well, not everyone had much feedback. Mayor Bob Dubey merely said, "Great presentation" and Councilmember Jennifer Justice, who was participating virtually from Bangkok, said nothing except that traffic is bad in Bangkok.

Councilmember Joe Corcoran appreciated the flexibility in the City creating a virtual meeting-in-a-box environment, which might permit UT-Dallas students to participate during their school's summer break when they might be off campus.

Councilmember Curtis Dorian suggested putting the summit information on social media platforms like NextDoor and neighborhood association Facebook groups or mailing lists.

Councilmember Dan Barrios wanted more promotion of pop-up events at places of worship or City Hall or Heights Rec Center.

Councilmember Ken Hutchenrider asked for statistics on what percentage of the public was being reached and responding.

As I listened to this 33 minute presentation and discussion, it occurred to me that everyone on City Council was talking about how we should get opinions from more members of the community. But none of them were expressing their own opinions about what they themselves want to see the future of Richardson look like. Well, again, not everyone.

Mayor Pro Tem Arefin repeated the concerns he expressed in the April 8, 2024, Council meeting when he said, "We have to have revenue from new sources to get our infrastructure fixes...Are you going to define what density we can handle as a city?" This week, he said, "We do have to look for new revenue sources to manage the infrastructure. Otherwise, we just have to deal with those potholes." By "new revenue sources", I think he meant increased property tax receipts by increasing the density and flexibility in what can be built in Richardson. I'm not sure he got his point across. Not only didn't any other councilmembers rally to his side, but the consultant responded by saying "there are additional pots of money, additional revenue sources to tap into," as if Arefin meant looking to get, say, federal funds to fix our potholes.

At least Arefin was trying to steer the comp plan in a specific, positive direction. It occurred to me that they wouldn't have to spend so much time brainstorming ways to get the public involved in the planning process, if they themselves would openly share their own ideas. You can ask the public for their ideas or you can ask their opinion of the council's ideas. The latter is more likely to stimulate discussion. For example, tell us how exactly much density you'd support in our single-family neighborhoods, how many accessory dwelling units, duplexes, fourplexes, apartments on each block. Share your own ideas and the public will turn out to speak in support or in opposition. Instead, our councilmembers act like they don't have ideas of their own at all. And that leads the public to act like they don't either. But they do. They just need councilmembers to share their own thoughts first.

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"Council, show your thoughts,
Lead the way with clear intent,
Public will engage."
—h/t ChatGPT