{"id":374653,"date":"2026-07-15T22:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T22:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/374653\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T22:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T22:12:10","slug":"its-probably-already-a-done-deal-residents-share-their-thoughts-on-the-willow-bend-district-development-for-the-dallas-stars-plano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/374653\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s probably already a done deal\u2019: Residents share their thoughts on the Willow Bend District development for the Dallas Stars | Plano"},"content":{"rendered":"

Plano residents have mixed feelings about the new Dallas Stars<\/a> planned for construction at The Shops at Willow Bend<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what some of them told Community Impact after the city\u2019s second open house event July 14.<\/p>\n

What they are saying<\/p>\n

Mark Coffman is a Plano resident and sports fan. He said the images the city showcased at the open house excited him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t go to a lot of Stars games, but the fact is that if I still live here whenever this thing gets done, the idea of being able to get to a game close is kind of cool,\u201d Coffman said.<\/p>\n

For Coffman, the new restaurants and a well-planned development could mean a new area for people to hang out after sports events.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, taxes may go up a little, but do it the right way and it will work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Other residents who have lived in Plano for decades had positive views about the city’s presentations, noting the presence from public officials, but still had concerns about traffic and environmental impact for older trees in the area.<\/p>\n

The other side<\/p>\n

Plano residents like Damon Mosley appreciated the renderings presented at the open house but still have concerns about the traffic that could come to the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure I understand the whole aspect of how it\u2019s going to affect the neighborhood,\u201d he said. \u201cAm I going to still be able to go drive to Home Depot pretty quick, like I do now, or Target?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mosley said he\u2019d need more information to come from the city and developers before deciding how he feels about the project.<\/p>\n

Plano resident Mike Forner lives near the Dallas North Tollway, or DNT. He said a feasibility study won\u2019t change his mind about the project.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t need to know how bad the traffic is, I take the tollway. You can hit the tollway going northbound, I\u2019d say near the Galleria going north at 3 [in the afternoon], it\u2019s packed like every day. Same thing going south,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Forner expressed disappointment with the City Council, who he said are the \u201cguardians\u201d that should be looking out for residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably already a done deal, truth be told,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to say, \u2018We want to hear your voice, it\u2019s transparency.\u2019 … They want to do that so they can say, \u2018Hey, we did our homework, and everything\u2019s going to be fine.\u2019 But it does not add up.\u201d<\/p>\n

The background<\/p>\n

The new arena and mixed-use development will be partially funded by property and sales tax growth in a new zoning area Plano City Council approved June 8<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sales and property tax growth in the zone, a nearly 900-acre area along the DNT, will go toward some of the construction costs for the development, per previous reporting. The funding for the project will not impact the current property tax rate for residents.<\/p>\n

Developers who were also present for the open houses said the Stars will be under a 30-year lease, which they believe will provide the development with stability per previous reporting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Plano officials are still developing a final project and finance plan to be adopted at a future council meeting. Residents may also have the opportunity to vote on additional taxes that would be applied to visitors and activities at the venue, per previous reporting<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Plano residents have mixed feelings about the new Dallas Stars planned for construction at The Shops at Willow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1115,114579,132557,160,162,161,130317,132555,129601,132558,27811,132556,132559,48287],"class_list":["post-374653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-dallas-stars","tag-development-in-plano","tag-new-tax-zone-plano","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-stars-align-in-plano","tag-stars-at-willow-bend","tag-stars-moving-to-plano","tag-tax-increase-in-plano","tag-the-bend","tag-tirz-6","tag-will-dallas-stars-arena-raise-taxes","tag-willow-bend"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}