Plano City Hall may have the facts on its side in a lawsuit over its master plan for the city, known as Plano Tomorrow.

The problem is the city is losing the PR battle with too many of its residents.

The latest legal developments around the plan have sparked a flurry of critics to fire off distorted sound bites. Residents who know next to nothing about Plano Tomorrow are buying into — and spreading — The Angry Crowd’s message on Nextdoor and other social media: Plano City Hall is nothing short of the Evil Empire that never listens to its citizens.

After talking with a good number of Plano residents who say they’ve lost trust with their city government, I’m tempted to beg City Hall to just wave the white flag — give in to the plaintiffs trying to stop Plano Tomorrow and let people vote on the master plan.

But that’s not the right response. As much as Plano and its residents deserve to get beyond this mess, caving in would create far bigger development nightmares and potentially threaten the governance of cities statewide.

The City Council approved the Plano Tomorrow plan in October 2015 after what it says was a several-years-long listening tour involving thousands of residents in a variety of venues, from online surveys to formal hearings. Leaders revised the plan at least twice to appease residents who were worried that it would lead to more apartments and big developments that would erode Plano's suburban atmosphere.

But quite a few citizens still felt they weren't heard. Riled up about the growth of apartments and mobilized under the name Plano Future, they continued to flood the city with complaints, conflict-of-interest accusations and defiant speeches.

Soon after the plan passed, Plano Future member Beth Carruth, now among the five lawsuit plaintiffs, submitted a petition with more than 4,000 signatures demanding the council repeal its action — or let voters decide Plano Tomorrow’s fate. The city secretary denied the document on the grounds that development plans such as Plano Tomorrow fall outside the bounds of referendum votes.

No one knows how many of those 4,000 petition signers wanted to see the costly, drawn-out lawsuit that has ensued. But more than two and a half years after it was filed, the case is still hung up in issues mostly related to jurisdiction.

Among the residences going up in Plano are these downtown structures, under construction in September. (Nathan Hunsinger / The Dallas Morning News)

Just last week the Texas Supreme Court left intact an appeals ruling that the courts can decide whether the city secretary is obligated to submit the petition. Now the city is filing a rehearing motion with the Supreme Court.

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Jack Ternan, told me this week, “We’re going to end up back where I was before they did their initial plea of jurisdiction. Eventually, the trial court is going to hear my motion for summary judgment that I filed back in 2016.”

From the city’s perspective, as explained by City Attorney Paige Mims, “We are looking to the courts to tell us whether or not a comprehensive plan is subject to a vote of the citizens. We believe it is not.”

Unsurprisingly, Ternan disagrees. “The city has spent an enormous amount of money and time delaying the resolution of the actual issue in dispute. In our view, the city secretary’s obligation to present the citizens’ petition to the City Council is clear. We still think she should do her job.”

The city makes a compelling case for why the delay and expense is the plaintiffs’ fault. Ternan makes a decent counterargument. From there, the lawsuit gets down into deep weeds that no single newspaper column can adequately capture.

That didn’t stop Plano Future from sending this email blast after the Aug. 31 ruling: “The Supreme Court released its ruling today refusing to hear the City of Plano's Appeal. The city lost at district court and at appeals court. It’s been a long battle but we are finally there. The Citizens Prevailed!! The city is required to present the citizen's petition to the City Council.”

An old-time mural on the side of Vickery Park restaurant in downtown Plano. (Nathan Hunsinger / Staff Photographer)

Plano’s legal team would dispute several points in the Plano Future email, but most important is that the latest ruling in no way mandated the petition go to council. Resolving that question is way down the road.

The real story isn’t the most recent ruling but rather the uncharted territory this litigation creeps into if the case moves forward on merits. While courts have ruled that zoning ordinances are outside the bounds of referendum, no judge has considered a case specific to comprehensive plans.

If visions for overall land use can be overturned by referendum, cities all over North Texas could face chaos.

Oh, and about Plano’s epidemic of apartments, the boogeyman that fueled this lawsuit: City statistics show the Plano Tomorrow plan actually has led to fewer multi-family units than the old 1986 plan. But don’t try telling the critics that — they will simply respond that the city is not telling the truth.

Plano also is taking unmitigated grief for the money it is spending on legal representation in the master plan lawsuit. While the total so far is $350,000, according to the city, Plano Future members send emails complaining about the "millions" supposedly spent.

Meanwhile, people who don’t know what they are talking about — or who are trying to manipulate the facts — make even more far-fetched claims. Some remarks suggest city should "just make the developers zone it single family" or "just require the developer to include lots of green space."

Perhaps if Plano Tomorrow does go to the voters, the city can find a way to provide a solid understanding of the limited options that realistically exist in regard to protected landowners.

For now, the aginners of Plano Future are effectively using the lawsuit to further their David vs. Goliath narrative. Just this week, one of the group's adherents described city leaders to me like this, “If you aren't with the crew of cronies, they bite and bite hard to get their way.”

The opposition’s voice is loud; the number of residents who make up the groundswell of opposition is less clear. But I fear Plano City Hall is getting backed into a no-win corner.