Here are four new updates that have come from Plano City Council and Plano's planning and zoning commission.

1. Plano commission approves preliminary site plan for 242-unit independent living facility
A new Watermere facility passed another step in development after Plano’s planning and zoning commission approved its preliminary site plan at a meeting Aug. 17. The independent living facility from Integrated Senior Lifestyles is planned to have 242 units within a 5-story building, according to city documents, with one and two-bedroom options.

2. City of Plano's tax rate proposed to remain the same for FY 2026-27
Plano City Council proposed a tax rate of $0.4376 per $100 valuation for FY 2026-27, the same rate as the previous fiscal year, at a meeting Sept. 14. Plano Director of Budget and Performance Management Karen Rhodes-Whitley said the city proposed a “no-new revenue” property tax rate from 2019 to 2022.

A new ramen place will open its first US location in Plano in November.

Latest update: Kouchan Ramen has been working on exterior signage, permit approvals, interior construction and kitchen work per a news release.

The Plano location will offer Mazemen, a brothless ramen mixed with a sauce or seasoning oil at the bottom of the bowl according to the release. The restaurant’s mazemen is served with chashu, which is a braised pork commonly used to top ramen, green onions, seaweed, menma, which is made of dried and fermented bamboo shoots, and chopped onions.

The retail section of a mixed-use project in Allen and Denton County Civil Courts relocation are in progress. Check out some of the latest construction filings with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

1. Methodist Richardson Medical Center expansion
Methodist Richardson Medical center is adding a three-story tower with mechnical space and an imaging suite on the first level, a 25-bed intermediate care unit on the second and shell space on the third per a TDLR filing. Construction is estimated to take roughly a year to complete.

• Location: 2831 E. President George Bush Highway, Richardson
• Estimated timeline: Dec. 1, 2026-Dec. 30, 2027
• Estimated cost: $64 million

2. Denton County Civil Courts relocation
Denton County Civil Courts is relocating into an existing five-story office building in Denton, per a TDLR filing. The office used to be the corporate headquarters for Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc. before the company relocated to Plano at the end of 2025 per previous reporting.

• Location: 3001 Colorado Blvd., Denton
• Estimated timeline: Dec.1, 2026-March 31, 2028
• Estimated cost: $60 million

The Texas comptroller's office is requesting that lawmakers provide more than $2 billion for the state's education savings account program, which subsidizes private education and homeschooling for participating families.

How we got here: The legislature created the program in 2025, allocating $1 billion for the 2026-27 school year. Nearly 110,000 students have received state dollars from the program so far, and officials said funding should be doubled to ensure more students can enroll in the next two years.

Zooming in: According to the comptroller's legislative appropriations request for the 2028-29 biennium, it would cost:

• $916 million per year to continue funding the roughly 110,000 students currently enrolled

• $82 million annually would be needed to fund siblings of participating children who will soon qualify for the program

• $980 million per year to provide funding for more than 106,000 students on the program's waitlist

Something to note: The comptroller's $2 billion base budget request would not fully cover the waitlist and interest list, which would cost nearly $4 billion for the 2027-28 and 2028-29 school years.