1/21/26
Town residents met at the Story wedding venue to hear from our hired consultants at Houseal Lavigne about their progress in identifying current needs in the town and to work in breakout groups on ideas for what the town should look like in 2046.
Back in December, these consultants produced their first memo about Existing Conditions within the town. This useful document includes a lot of maps of where development is being planned, where future roads or trails will likely be placed, floodplains, zoning and land use, etc. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of detail in this document when it was released–I had been expecting a re-hash of the map.social data they collected, which I think hardly anyone in the town has used. Instead, it is a thorough document that really builds off of the comprehensive plan the town made back in 2017 in a substantial way.
I sat in the meeting but probably asked more questions than I gave back in useful comments. Our interim town manager Bill Vegas attended the workshop, along with our very knowledgeable director of planning & development Surupa Sen (who is leading the comprehensive planning process), Town Councilmember Finch, interim police chief BJ Brumit, and other town staff. We had 5 tables of residents, and the consultants walked us through a series of questions regarding what we expect in future needs for housing, transportation, industrial development, town services, etc.
If you weren’t able to attend the workshop but would like to know more, the website for the comprehensive planning process is here. If you have specific questions or requests, you can also email AskPlanning@townofsunnyvale.org
Some additional things I learned at this meeting:
- The Town does have a waterfront park, it’s just dormant currently. Dallas owns a small spit of land near the Lake Hubbard power plant, and it used to be a park, but it attracted vagrants and it was too far for Dallas PD to cover, so they gave it to Sunnyvale to administer. Since we didn’t have our own police department at the time, it was just closed down. If the town wanted to in the future, there doesn’t seem to be a substantial barrier (besides money!) to establishing a park or boat launch at that site. Given the closure of Windsurf Bay Park’s waterfront by Garland staff, this seems like the nearest way to get on the water without going up to Rowlett or crossing Lake Ray Hubbard.
- The site for the new police station has been chosen, it’s going to go right next to the new animal shelter (and right next to the current police station). The site for the new town hall has not been chosen yet (although in my table’s view it makes a lot of sense to keep it near Collins and 80!).
- The idea of being able to bike to restaurants near Tom Thumb, drink, and get an uber home is getting surprisingly popular among people I talk to in the town. I used to live in Nashville before coming to Sunnyvale, maybe our town is itching for its own pedal tavern?
- The best fishing spots seem to be in East Sunnyvale, maybe not on the lake itself. I got one good recommendation for a spot off of Duck Creek; it seems like it may be challenging to get to but if I can verify it I’ll share it.
- The Stoney Creek developer was supposed to establish a nature park as part of their master development plan, off of Collins road north of Town East. I talked to some very pleasant residents who know the history with this developer much better than I do, and I’m sure they will be making sure this commitment is honored.
If you’re looking for more general information about the town’s planning and zoning as it currently stands, the town’s main webpage is another great resource.
