The City of McKinney Planning and Zoning Commission on Jan. 14 approved design exceptions to the site plan for a proposed terminal at McKinney National Airport, voting 7-0 to allow reduced tree plantings in the street buffer and parking areas adjacent to the runway.

Staff said the exceptions were requested because planting canopy trees close to the runway would attract birds and other wildlife and create a hazard for aircraft. Planner Jake Bennett told the commission the unified development code allows air-side perimeter exemptions and staff worked with the applicant and the city urban forester to preserve more trees than originally planned and to add landscaping features where possible.

“Given the location immediately adjacent to the existing runway … preservation of existing trees and additional landscaping features. Staff recommends approval of the requested design exceptions,” Bennett said.

Mitchell McAnally, senior project manager for Garver (engineer of record for the applicant), said the site plan shows the terminal, an associated public parking area and an air-side operations area. He said the design includes berms, heavy shrub plantings and seasonal plantings in the street yard and parking islands instead of canopy trees.

“We're going to be berms in the front, kind of, within what we would call the street yard … heavy amount of shrub plantings, seasonal plantings as well as other plantings within the terminus islands in the parking area,” McAnally said.

Several members of the public opposed the expansion of passenger service at the airport and urged elected officials to pause further action until voters decide. “All efforts need to stop until McKinney holds a yes or no vote on passenger service to get a clearer direction on the will of the people,” said Hank Johnston. Richard Atkinson told the commission, “McKinney voters soundly rejected this airport expansion and its related commercial air traffic … It seems our voice and that vote has been ignored.” A resident from Lucas expressed mixed feelings about convenience versus potential noise and property-value impacts and asked how many flights the airport expects daily.

Applicant representatives and staff said the number of early flights is variable and is determined by airlines: “At this point, it's a variable. It could be anywhere from 3 flights a day to 5 flights a day initially up to 7 to 10 flights a day,” the applicant said. Staff added that the airport currently has about 400 general aviation operations per day and that, for required environmental and noise studies, the analyses assume commercial operations are added to, not substituted for, existing activity.

The applicant and staff noted that the City Council on the prior Tuesday approved a resolution supporting the site plan and the requested exceptions. An environmental assessment public meeting was announced for Thursday at the new City Hall to present air and noise analysis and traffic information.

The commission's action was limited to the design exceptions for landscaping and tree requirements; commissioners and staff repeatedly framed the decision as a zoning/site-plan technical matter tied to aviation safety rather than a vote on passenger service itself. The motion to approve the exceptions, including staff conditions, passed 7 in favor and 0 against. Commissioners instructed staff to notify the applicant of the approval.

Next steps noted during the meeting include continuing required environmental and noise assessments and further coordination with the airlines and the city council; no numerical cap on daily commercial flights was adopted by the commission.