McKinney’s Community Development Corporation Changes Focus

The current mayor and council members have slowly refocused the McKinney Community Development Corporation’s (MCDC) focus in what it funds and doesn’t fund. At MCDC’s recent strategic planning meeting held July 9^th, the president of the MCDC, Cindy Schneible, said the following about the changing priorities:

“…I think our projects have that economic development cast, so we really need to think about how we want to report this out going forward. The larger percentage of our grants are outside of parks...It used to be a lot going to non-profit organizations for museum and entertainment, Heard Wildlife Museum, or Heard Craig, or Chestnut Square, and those are a smaller percentage of our overall grants that are being awarded. The big ones are airport and things like City Hall Plaza, Tupps, so…”

Three members of the City Council, Mayor Fuller, Pro Tem Feltus, and At Large Jones, were present and participated in the strategic planning process. This was an audio-only meeting that lasted over two and a half hours. I listened to the meeting and had it transcribed by an AI transcription service. 

Here are the key discussions and decisions from the meeting:

1. Airport–According to the Mayor, the airport will continue to get some funding from the MCDC. The recent $3.6M given to the airport for infrastructure was not a one-off.

2. Tunnel Park—The MCDC will also be asked to fund the underground tunnel park under Highway 5.

3. City Parks Funding—the ten-year requirement or directive for the MCDC to fund city parks a certain amount every year ($5.5M or so) will be ending soon. The directive will not be renewed; MCDC will just continue to fund it. A lack of a directive or requirement means that city leadership can decide at a future time to stop financing city parks. If the MCDC stops, citizens will have to cover the cost through their taxes.

4. The MCDC board made it clear that the relationship with MISD is broken. MISD makes it very difficult to rent space. MISD will also kick out those who rent space on short notice to make room for a school group. 

5. MCDC got the green light to pursue economic development deals, just like the MEDC. They will issue requests for proposals for what city leaders decide are priorities.

6. City leadership wants the MCDC to pursue convention space when that has traditionally been the job of the MEDC.

7. Leadership seems to want a luxury hotel. 
 
8. They want a community gathering place that is also a development of some sort.

Mayor Fuller spoke about a resort/hotel/convention space and the airport both being top priorities for the MEDC and MCDC. This audio was captured around the 1:30 range.

At Large Jones stressed the need to prioritize the following:

“I think, honestly, the airport, and just remember what the D stands for, whether it's EDC or CDC, it's development. Development. So when we talk about community development, what are we lacking? We lack hotel space. We lack entertainment venues. That's key. We can mow a lawn for parks all day long, but it's community development and economic development. So that should be the key priorities always. And it should be...You don't have a number on this. You just kind of list them out. Development.”

Mayor Pro Tem Feltus wanted to make clear that the MCDC should seek out developments to fund:

“I would definitely say I would like to see us be a little more proactive about finding the developments that are really right for McKinney. I think a lot of times, and this is not just CDC, but we kind of wait for things to come to us instead of us going to look for what really fits for us. How many of you guys have flown somewhere else, looked at a development, looked at an entertainment venue, a hotel, anybody on this board?”

MCDC’s current $35M fund balance reflects a clear change in funding priorities. Clearly, less money is going to community-type causes, and more money is being saved for development-type causes.

Because CDCs have such broad legal provisions governing how sales tax funds can be spent, city leaders can tailor goals at will. The MCDC board members are all appointed by the City Council. The City Council tells the MCDC what priorities should be pursued. 

Last February, the City Council voted 6-1 to ask the MEDC and the MCDC to fund the cost of infrastructure needed for a commercial airport (or maybe the expansion of the general aviation airport if the commercial airport does not pan out). This vote came nearly a year after the citizens of McKinney decisively voted down a $200M bond election to fully fund a commercial airport.

City officials spent nearly a year trying to figure out how to pay for a commercial airport without bonding through the citizens before finally settling on these two revenue streams. This city council resolution was for $3.6M from the MCDC.

The city council meeting was heated. Many in the community sent emails and spoke in person. They feared this one-time diversion of money to the airport would become the norm. They wondered what community events and non-profits would miss out on funding if the MCDC started paying for the airport as well as the MEDC. City Council chastised citizens from the dais for believing that the MCDC's commitment to the community would be changed.

Unfortunately, city residents' fears turned out to be reasonable. The MCDC's priorities have changed at the behest of city leadership.

Please see this past article regarding MCDC's funding denial of McKinney's own Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary here.

 

 

McKinney Leadership’s Heard Problem

The 289-acre non-profit Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary is located on McKinney's east side. It is the definition of the kind of open space that fits McKinney’s “Unique by Nature” motto. It is a tourist attraction and a hidden gem for nature lovers.

Visitors canoeing, photo from The Heard's website 

Community groups meet at the Heard. School district and homeschool students learn about nature year-round. The Heard’s founder, Bessie Heard, was a woman ahead of her time and a downtown McKinney icon. With all the Heard has to offer, one would think the city of McKinney and its leadership would partner with Heard as they eagerly do with places like Tupps Brewery and the airport. Instead, the city of McKinney and its leaders push the Heard to the side.

The reason the Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary is problematic for McKinney’s leadership is simple— the airport. City leadership is on a mission to convert the general aviation airport into a commercial airport. Last year, citizens voted down a $200M bond meant for that purpose. This November's charter election will decide if the current mayor can have his term extended to continue his pursuit of a commercial airport. It is hard for the city and its leaders to concentrate money and effort on expanding the city’s airport when it is located right next to a nature preserve with a mission to educate, preserve, and conserve the environment. These two projects are close in proximity but worlds apart in their missions.

McKinney goes quite far to pretend the Heard does not exist. In the city’s 2040 comprehensive plan, the Heard is swallowed up in the so-called “Airport and Aviation District.” 

The Heard is located in the black circle at the bottom left of the aviation area.

The McKinney Community Development Corporation (MCDC) has been the primary financial support for non-profits like the Heard. The MCDC has given minimal yearly grant support to the Heard, similar to the grants the MCDC gives to fundraisers and cultural events in downtown McKinney.

Here's the history and purpose of the MCDC according to its website:

“In 1996, McKinney voters approved a half-cent sales tax to be used to provide grants to projects and events that would enhance McKinney’s aesthetic, cultural, and leisure amenities. Over the past 25 years, MCDC has invested nearly $225 million back into the community.”

The MCDC’s mission statement:

“Staying true to voter intent, we work proactively, in partnership with others, to promote and fund community, cultural and economic development projects that maintain and enhance the quality of life in McKinney.”

This year, the Heard applied to the MCDC for a $148,000 project grant to restore the Blackland Prairie area of its nature preserve. The application was formally presented to the MCDC board in April. The board asked five questions of the Heard representatives, ranging from interest in controlled burns to whether they could get a used tractor instead of a new one. Not one word was said indicating anything was wrong with their application. No other comments indicated a potential denial based on MCDC priorities or the inappropriateness of the application. *Oddly, project grants for community purposes, not just economic development, are now being discussed in MCDC's closed executive sessions. 

At the next MCDC meeting in May, the Heard’s project grant application came up for a vote. Not one person from the board said a word. After a lengthy silence, a member requested a vote to deny. The denial of Heard’s project grant request passed7-0. At the same meeting, the MCDC board approved a $3.6M project grant for airport infrastructure. The Notes Live for-profit outdoor amphitheater project was given $3M. Right now, the MCDC has a fund balance of about $30M. The Heard application looks like it was the only project denied this past fiscal year. 

Whether McKinney’s leadership likes it or not, the Heard is an asset to the city. It attracts tourism, educates citizens of all ages, and conserves and preserves open spaces. The Heard ticks all the boxes city leaders profess they want to support and promote. Whether a commercial airport is in McKinney's future or not, city leadership must find a way to work constructively with the Heard, just like it does with other non-profits in the city.