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Maintaining Plano's history
By Bill Conrad, bconrad@starlocalnews.com
Downtown Plano has undergone a revitalization in the past two decades, with century-old buildings that previously housed saddle shops and drug stores now housing wine stores and restaurants with rooftop patios.
To ensure the historical feel of downtown Plano and the Haggard Park neighborhood are not lost, the Plano Heritage Commission was formed in 1980 and is made up of members appointed by the city council. Any changes to the exteriors of buildings require the blessing of the commission via a certificate of appropriateness.
Phyllis Jarrell, the city's planning director, said the commission serves an important role.
Guidelines used by the commission allow for wiggle room so business owners are not overly restricted from making improvements to their property. While this lack of specific requirements is embraced by some, it can also create issues when the commission denies a request.
"The commission will make a determination if the changes proposed or a new building is appropriate, and I think that is where the tension comes in," Jarrell said. "The guidelines have to be flexible enough to accommodate people wanting to upgrade and improve their properties. We certainly want people to do that and reinvest in these properties."
Evidence of the tension that can be created was on display at the city council meeting Monday.
Nathan and Bonnie Shea, proprietors of Urban Crust and the newly opened Urban Rio, asked the council to overturn a commission decision that barred the installation of a rooftop patio cover at Urban Crust. The item was eventually tabled until Sept. 24, but not until more than 45 minutes of discussion on the Urban Crust awning, as well as the lack of specific guidelines for use by the commission.
Bonnie told the council the original awning was approved and installed in 2010, but eventually began to show signs of wear.
"In March of this year, the staff of the commission called me and asked if I was aware that the roof top awning was in bad shape," she told the council, while adding she had appeared before the commission eight times. "... We said we had plans underway to replace that structure and as soon as it was ready, we would be replacing that structure."
The Sheas replaced the old, weather-beaten awning with a newer model in May, prior to seeking the commission's permission.
While the new awning was made by the same Italian company that manufactured the first one, it is more structurally sound and stands about two feet taller, Nathan said. These differences were enough for the commission to deny the Sheas the certificate of appropriateness they needed.
"The fact that bothers us the most is that we followed the guidelines seven different times and this eighth time. We were just replacing one that was already in existence with something a little bit better," he said. "There are no guidelines that tell us what to do for rooftop awnings. There is not a guideline that the city can give us today that will tell us how tall it needs to be, how much mass it needs to have, can it be permanent, can it be non-permanent? Everything they based it on was on their own opinion, not based on simple facts of guidelines."
Nathan told the council there needed to be specific guidelines in place to prevent confusion among business owners. At the same July meeting where the Sheas' request was denied, a rooftop awning was approved for Zanata's, a restaurant a few doors down from Urban Crust. The Zanata awning is a foot shorter than the one proposed at Urban Crust, according to city documents.
No commission members spoke at the city council meeting, but Jarrell said the new awning at Urban Crust is bulkier, taller and more visible from the street. As a result, the request was denied by the commission.
Councilman Pat Gallagher said he supported the Sheas, noting that all parties involved have the same goal of making downtown Plano great. No other council members shared how they planned on voting on the appeal, but several expressed concerns. One of those was Mayor Pro Tem Lissa Smith, who said she was concerned about altering the roof line of downtown buildings.
Playing the role of mediator, Mayor Phil Dyer called for the item to be tabled so that both parties could attempt to work out a compromise.
"I am deeply grateful to the Sheas for what they have done in downtown Plano," Dyer said. "Whether it is Urban Crust, Urban Rio or leadership in the Historic Downtown Plano Association, they have been a driving force for the viability and vitality of downtown Plano. ... I wonder if there is any hope of everyone sitting down and seeing if this thing can possibly be modified in some way before we take a final, irreversible action that might damage their business and damage them financially."
While Dyer expressed hope for a compromise, both the Sheas and Jarrell said it would be difficult for any changes to be made to the awning, which was custom-built for the restaurant.
"Trying to change this at this point will be very, very difficult without spending a great deal of money since this this was made custom for us and shipped over here," Nathan said. "... Tabling, I understand is something you guys want to do to discuss redoing it, but beyond replacing that entire structure and redoing it again, there is not much else we can do."
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