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.