Plan and Zoning Commission approves Huntington Park master-plan rezoning for 784-acre mixed-use development

The McKinney Plan and Zoning Commission voted 7-0 April 8 to approve rezoning for Huntington Park, a roughly 784-acre mixed-use master plan that would create single-family neighborhoods, brownstone-style attached units, a multifamily core with required ground-floor retail and expanded commercial zones along the planned 380 bypass.

City planning staff recommended approval and described zoning standards and timing triggers that would limit multifamily site-plan submittals until specified commercial acreage is built and either the 380 bypass is under construction or a large amount of single-family is platted west of Stonebridge Drive.

Caitlin Sheffield, chief planner (staff), told commissioners the plan breaks the property into pods: about 24 acres in one single-family district (HP 60), about 20 acres in another (HP 50), and roughly 44 acres in an HP 40-equivalent area. Brownstone-style units were described as about 22 acres with a maximum of 200 units across four pods. Sheffield said the central HP Urban multifamily area totals roughly 70 acres and — as presented by the applicant — includes a proposed cap she and the applicant described as “a maximum of 3,711 units in total.” She also said the proposed zoning requires at least 12 acres of commercial in the designated pods to have approved certificates of occupancy before any multifamily site plans may be submitted, and that multifamily timing additionally requires either the TxDOT 380 bypass to be under construction or at least 100 acres of single-family platted west of Stonebridge.

Applicant representatives outlined design intent and market assumptions. Lucy Billingsley, identified as the applicant and developer, described the project as a long-range, mixed-use community modeled on Billingsley’s other large developments. Billingsley said on full buildout the development “adds up to being over a $2,000,000,000 asset” and told the commission she estimated annual city tax revenue at about $9,000,000 and total annual tax receipts near $41,000,000; she stated, in the meeting, “so obviously the school district gets about 24 of it” (phrase as spoken in the record; not specified further).

Jerry Silo of JBI Partners, the applicant’s consultant, described project details the ordinance would lock in, including a requirement that roughly 70,000 square feet of ground-floor retail be built in the designated red-hatched core and minimum garage-parking standards for multifamily (an 80% minimum of apartment parking provided in garages). Silo said the development standards in the proposed ordinance largely mirror existing City of McKinney Unified Development Code districts and downtown urban standards to encourage an urban core and transitions to lower-density edges.

One resident, Gail Parks of Tucker Hill, asked when an extension of Stonebridge Drive to the 380 area would be built; staff said right-of-way and extension responsibilities occur as development proceeds and that the applicant would be responsible only for the segment within Huntington Park. The applicant also told the commission that progress on a broader feasibility agreement with the city and Southern Land Corporation has been delayed by litigation: “Shortly after that time, Southern Land filed a lawsuit against the city, and so we’ve not been able to sign and move the agreement forward,” the applicant said.

The commission closed the public hearing and approved rezoning case 230093Z on a 7-0 vote. The approved ordinance includes a 43-page set of development standards the applicant and staff worked to align with the city’s Unified Development Code and downtown urban standards.

The record shows the rezoning establishes a set of use districts, development triggers, and minimum retail requirements designed to phase multifamily construction until commercial and transportation thresholds are met. Commissioners asked for clarifications about timing triggers, open-space preservation and parking; staff and applicant answered during the meeting and the commission proceeded to a single approving motion.

The commission’s action forwards the adopted zoning standards into the city record. The project’s future site plans, plats and permits will still need to comply with the city’s development-review processes and any conditions in the final ordinance; several provisions create preconditions tied to off-site transportation work and commercial buildout before multifamily may proceed.