Plano has been known for a variety of things over the years: a hub for business, a crossroads of culture, a community engaged in its city and  more. 

Now 72 square-miles and land-locked, the city of Plano is looking at ways to reinvest in key areas to keep the community vibrant and relevant. 

Plano's City Manager Mark Israelson speaks to Plano's identity, how it is looking to the future with redevelopment and his involvement in the city in his 23 years in Plano during a sit down interview with the Plano Star Courier.

What is Plano's identity?

Plano is a multi-faceted community. We're about 290,000 people in this community, which is a top 100 city in the entire country. It's a large city. We're No. 9 in Texas. We're up there with Arlington, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston and Austin. We're in that same genre of bigger cities, but we happen to be a suburban city. There is a strong suburban character of neighborhoods where everybody has the single-family homes, but we also have great business parks. The Legacy business park has brought a lot of people to Plano, starting with EDS and Ross Perot acquisition of land out there, then we saw Frito Lay and JC Penney as well as other companies. More recently, we've seen other companies like Toyota, JP Morgan Chase, Liberty Mutual, FedEx office, have all called Plano home. We're a community that has a little bit of everything that you can find. We have great restaurants, parks, libraries and a lot to do. It's something we're very proud of. 

How does Plano differ from its neighboring cities?

There are a number of things. Let's start off with public safety, parks and overall quality of life. Plano ranks very well both regionally and on a national level in public safety. We're a gold medal-winning parks system. We have fantastic libraries. We have a great amount of activities going on in our community. One of our partners, PISD is also very renowned. Having a great school system is a great hallmark to our community. If you look at Plano compared to our neighboring cities, we have excellence across the board. I think that's something a lot of cities are looking to emulate in their own ways. 

What does it mean to be a "city of excellence?"

What it means to us is having best practices, having accredited departments, industry-leading, innovative and creative approaches. It's also the standard we hold ourselves in customer service, the way we connect ourselves in the community and the way we respond to community needs and communicate with our residents. Excellence is core to our fabric and to our ethos. 

Since joining the city in 1999, what are some major changes you've seen over time?

The community continues to grow and have the same values it's always had as far as a sense of identity. Where we've a lot of growth is in areas redevelopment like Collin Creek Mall. Collin Creek Mall was a huge piece of how Plano was known in the '80s, '90s and early 2000s. The facility itself has seen better days and it became an opportunity for redevelopment. Moving from grainfields into redevelopment has been a substantial shift in the organization and in the community. We still have some development opportunities, but we also have some redevelopment opportunities where we take something we've been known for and work that into its next chapter for Plano. We're very excited about that, and I think that's going to continue to be an asset to everybody. 

What are some big projects in the works right now?

There are some big projects in the works right now. In addition to Collin Creek Mall, there's the former outlet mall, known as Plano Market Square at Spring Creek, east of 75. That's redoing what was a retail center into an office center with some mixed use. It's a fantastic project that we're excited about. That's following what we saw across 75 that we've seen. 

What are some redevelopment projects with Plano's malls to keep them relevant?

Willow Bend has some new owners, and we've met with them to see what their plans are. I think they're still working through that. Regional malls in general have gone through some disruptive change through online shopping. The retailing experience itself has dramatically changed over the last 10-15 years. Regional malls are going through an evolution of what they look like and how they can be effective, things like that. Collin Creek is a great example of something going through that evolution. We anticipate the malls to be an important part of our community.

What redevelopment is happening at Collin Creek Mall?

They're going to keep the central corridor of the mall. The major anchors have been removed. They're turning it into a mixed-use area. They will continue having a retail and restaurant aspect to the corridor, but there will be a park, some multifamily units and offices going there. It's a 99-acre tract, and they have a lot of plans to bring it to fruition.

How did your time working for the city of Kilgore differ from your time in Plano?

Very different communities. I loved my time there. I had a wonderful experience with a great mayor, great council and great community. It's a very different community from Plano from a size perspective and the aspects of what they wanted to achieve in their community. But there were some consistencies, which I really liked. There was a value in relationships, very similar to what we have here. Their community wants to be engaged and wants to be heard. They have a great community, and it was a great experience in my career. I wouldn't trade it, but Plano to me is where I always wanted to be, and I love it here. 

What brought you to Plano?

For me, Plano is a really business-minded organization, which was a selling point when I was originally considering leaving consulting and coming back into the municipal sector. Plano had a strong reputation for being a business-minded community that focused on best practices and really operated in a way that was great form a city management perspective. 

What have been the most rewarding and challenging aspects serving Plano?

I just enjoy giving back and making a difference in this community. For me as a person, that's a really fulfilling aspect — to think that you might have some role in helping the community. I went out to an elementary school in the community a few years ago, and they happened to have a few hearing impaired children. They asked for a sign in the street to help drivers that while there might be kids who play, it notified that some of the children might be hearing impaired, so drivers would be more cautious. The kids asked me to do that as a part of that presentation. Our traffic folks were great. We had the signs installed in a few months. To think that may help kids feel safe, that's a wonderful feeling. What I want to do in this community is leave it a little better than I found it. 

As far as challenges, COVID-19 was a little bit of a curveball. We have great emergency services, and we have great staff that rise to the occasion. But there wasn't really a play book for a global pandemic. We spent a lot of time as a team discussing how to keep the community and our employees safe simultaneously. It really was a challenge when there wasn't someone to call to ask how they got around an obstacle. It was something we were all going through, and we had to figure it out in real time to make sure everybody was safe. 

What do you hope to see in the Plano community?

There are a lot of projects going on right now. Plano has built its reputation on excellence, and I think keeping up with that takes a lot of effort. That's what I hope to achieve while I'm city manager — developing the organization to continue meeting the needs of the community. When you have an aging community and projects and turnover in staff, the organization has to adapt and continue providing excellence. That's really hallmark of a great organization: one that can weather various changes in the environment they are working in. I feel like my team in Plano is amazing, and they certainly rise to the challenge. 

Winston Henvey is the reporter for the Mesquite News, Coppell Gazette and The Leader serving Carrollton, Flower Mound and Lewisville. Email him with story suggestions at whenvey@starlocalmedia.com.