McKinney staff proposes sliding-scale parkland reductions to favor deeper affordability

Jenny Baker presented a potential sliding-scale approach for parkland reductions tied to the city's affordable housing scorecard. Under the illustrative example, a 100-unit development with high proportions of deeply affordable units could receive substantially greater reductions than under the current flat 50% land-dedication reduction for affordable housing.

"The top is the most affordable and so if we wanted to implement like a sliding scale reduction of, or credit, you know, the most affordable, you'd get a 90% reduction in your park fees," Baker said, offering an example that assumed a hypothetical per-acre land value and a 100-unit development to illustrate outcomes. Council members, including Councilman Lenevier, argued the current 50% credit often benefits 80% AMI projects the city already has in abundance; he said he had "no appetite to continue any mitigation for 80% AMI," and preferred reallocating reductions to deeper levels of affordability and senior housing.

Staff and council discussed thresholds used to qualify for deeper reductions, the practical difficulty projects face meeting low-AMl thresholds (council noted many past projects do not reach the 30% AMI tier), and the trade-off between preserving incentives for commonly built 80% AMI workforce housing and targeting scarce city resources to lower-income and senior populations. Baker said staff is open to council direction on threshold design and will integrate council feedback into the recommendation.