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McKinney council authorizes ground-lease negotiations with Collin College for airport aviation training campus
Summary
The City of McKinney authorized staff to negotiate a ground lease with Collin College for about 13 acres at McKinney National Airport to support aviation mechanic and pilot training. Airport director Ken Carley described the project as a multi‑million dollar training campus expected to create high‑paying jobs.
McKinney city council on May 5 approved a resolution directing the city manager to negotiate a ground lease with Collin College for roughly 13 acres at McKinney National Airport to host aviation training facilities.
Ken Carley, the airport director, told council the letter of intent would lead to a ground lease for construction of training facilities and placed the project on a 2030 build target. "This is a target project of about 50 or $60,000,000," Carley said, and he added the initiative is intended to expand both commercial- and general-aviation workforce pipelines. He also cited wage figures for the occupations the program would feed: "Median wages for aircraft mechanics and technicians, nationwide is $92,000. For pilots, it's a 195,000," as stated during his presentation.
Carley said Collin College plans to include mechanic and pilot training and that the college is coordinating with McKinney ISD to create a student pipeline into the program. Councilmembers voiced support for the collaboration as a job-creation and workforce-development measure and the council voted to approve the staff-recommended resolution to proceed with negotiations.
The council did not record a roll-call vote tally in the public transcript; the motion was announced as carried. The resolution authorizes negotiation of a ground lease and does not itself finalize a lease or obligate city construction funds. Staff said further details about lease terms, project financing and construction timing will be brought back to council as those negotiations progress.
