City council liaison outlines new vagrancy ordinances, downtown demolition and parking study

Patrick Cloutier, McKinney city council member for District 2, briefed the Visit McKinney board on recent City Council actions and downtown plans on Oct. 28.

Cloutier said council passed two ordinances addressing vagrancy in and near the McKinney Town Center: one prohibits lying down or sitting in the Town Center area and another restricts camping on private property; both ordinances include one-year sunsets. "If council wants to keep them going we have to vote them back in next year or they do sunset," Cloutier said. He noted the camping restriction allows McKinney Police to approach people camping on private property and ask them to move on.

Cloutier also said the city intends in the first quarter of next year to demolish the old City Hall and the former library/current Development Services Building to repurpose those sites. He said the work will affect downtown parking and the city has restarted a parking study (originally done in 2019) to reassess parking needs and potential improvements, including better wayfinding and lighting on the south end of the square.

Cloutier reported on a recent airport "display day" event that drew thousands of attendees and introduced many visitors to McKinney’s airport for the first time. He described council's varying views on the ordinances and said the council will reevaluate the measures after the one-year sunset period.