If approved by council, the facility, called City Sports, it will be about 83,620 square feet and will sit on the south side of Golden Triangle Boulevard.
The details
The city’s planning and zoning commission recommended approval of the site plan at its meeting Jan. 28.
The facility is part of a public-private partnership between the city and the developers behind the project. The operation of the facility is meant to complement the programs offered at the Keller’s sports park, according to city documents. This includes a partnership with the Keller Youth Association.
The developers behind the project, ME Development LLC, proposed several variances in their site plan, including the minimum parking requirements.
They won’t be providing all of the required parking. Instead, the developers proposed shared parking with the Keller Sports Park and parking spaces south of the property.
What they’re saying
Some planning and zoning commissioners said they worried about there not being enough parking at the facility.
“I think I have confidence in you,” Commissioner John Baker told the developers at the Jan. 28 meeting. “But as a grandfather who is at a lot of these soccer games, football games [and] baseball games at the facilities, parking is a problem.”
However, Baker said he thought the facility was a great concept and voted to recommend approval of the site plan along with the rest of the commissioners.
Manuel Mariel, vice president of operations to the facility, told Community Impact after the meeting that he was excited about the site plan getting approved.
“There are always variances and things you’ve got to get through to try to get to the right recipe,” Mariel said. “We’re willing to put the time in. We value this partnership with the city of Keller.”
The backstory
A special task force was created by the city council in 2021 to research and make recommendations for improvements to the Keller Sports Park. The task force determined that about seven undeveloped acres of land near the sports park would be better utilized in the form of a ground lease with an entity that could provide programming.
In 2023, the council approved a ground lease agreement with ME Development LLC for a term of 50 years to allow for the development of an athletic campus featuring spaces for basketball, volleyball, cheer and futsal, a football-based sport played on a hardcourt.
What’s next?
The site plan will go to the city council for consideration on Feb. 18. ME Development Principal Esteban Mariel told Community Impact that if the site plan is approved he’ll move forward with the building permitting process.
After that, it could take between 12-14 months to build the facility, he said.
