The proposed project includes a nearly 23,000-square-foot grocery store and three other pad sites on about 6.6 total acres at the southwest corner of US 75 and Virginia Parkway, according to city documents. Discussion at the Jan. 17 meeting between the developer and council mentioned a Sprouts Farmers Market opening at this location. However, Sprouts Farmers Market has not announced a store at this location, according to a representative of the company.
“This intersection has aesthetic challenges, and candidly, .., doing what we need to do to have something the caliber of a Sprouts [Farmers Market there], as opposed to what I’m concerned the alternative is going to be, is just very tempting,” Council Member Patrick Cloutier said.
The project developers requested a traffic signal be installed at Virginia Parkway, about 400 feet west of the traffic signal at US 75, to support the planned development. City staff did not approve this request due to guidelines in the city’s engineering design manual. There must be at least 1,200 feet between traffic signals unless granted an exception on a case-by-case basis, according to a presentation given by McKinney’s Director of Engineering Gary Graham. This rule assists with facilitating the flow of traffic, Graham said. This corridor sees over 34,000 cars each day going both eastbound and westbound, according to a presentation from the meeting.
“It’s more of a level-of-service, quality-of-life issue. We’re trying to do the best we can to move that traffic along the corridor as efficiently as possible,” Graham said.
McKinney City Council unanimously approved the variance request with multiple members citing the project is a desirable redevelopment plan for the site. The project site was formerly home to the Wysong Hospital campus, which relocated in 2020.
“We’re always going to have grocery at [US] 75 and [US] 380. We’ve got good development that’s going to have grocery at [US] 75 and Eldorado [Parkway], and we’ve lost it at [US 75 and Virginia Parkway]. I would say that’s largely because of development restraints,” Council Member Justin Beller said. “We’re not going to get it back unless we make some accommodation to that.”
