McKinney planning panel approves design exception allowing removal of all quality trees in local floodplain for proposed Hopewell warehouse

The Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously to approve a design exception allowing Hopewell Development to remove 65 "quality" trees — all of the trees mapped inside the city's fully developed floodplain — as part of a proposed warehouse at the southeast corner of McIntyre Road and State Highway 5.

City planning manager Kate Strickland told commissioners the applicant is proposing to remove 100% of the quality trees inside the floodplain on the 14.46‑acre site and that staff recommends denial because the tree preservation ordinance limits by‑right removal to 30% and because trees in floodplains provide stormwater absorption, erosion control and natural floodplain mitigation. "The removal of the quality trees within the floodplain does raise environmental and functional drainage concerns for the city," Strickland…