The project, an initiative of McKinney’s Parks and Recreation Department, will be developed on a nearly 47 acre site that also includes the McKinney Senior Recreation Center and other city facilities.
The McKinney Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended approval of a rezoning request for the project at a Feb. 25 meeting, but final action on the item is expected to come from the McKinney City Council.
The details
The project includes adding a dog park with shade structures, according to the city’s website. Jenny Baker, McKinney’s parks planning and development manager, said the dog park would include three separate yards.
Other elements of the project include parking spaces, restrooms, horseshoe pits, sand volleyball courts and open areas, she said. The project would also include hike and bike trails as well as a pedestrian connection to the senior recreation center.
The project is part of a renovation initiative for the entirety of Towne Lake Park that was announced in late 2022.
“This is basically an extension of Towne Lake [Park],” Baker said. “We master planned Towne Lake a couple of years ago and just kind of envisioned reimagining the entire lake, updating it, making it even more of a beautiful amenity than it already is. This is kind of the first phase of that master plan.”
The site currently has a planned development zoning type and has existing uses for city government facilities, including the McKinney Public Works South campus. The proposed rezoning would designate the site as the city’s government complex zoning district, which is a more modern zoning type, Director of Planning Jennifer Arnold said at the meeting. City planning staff recommended approval of the rezoning request.
Also of note
The project site includes a portion of Old Settlers Cemetery, a historical cemetery, which will remain on the site amid surrounding development of park uses.
A rezoning request for the project was initially heard by the commission in February 2024, but was tabled awaiting an archeological survey of the cemetery. The survey has since been completed by Horizon Environmental Services and reviews by the Texas Historical Commission, Baker said.
Limited information is available on the details of the cemetery, she said, but the survey identified the cemetery’s boundary and development on the site will be a minimum of 25 feet away from the boundary line. Parks and recreation department officials also plan to install a fence and supportive infrastructure around the cemetery site.
Looking ahead
The rezoning request is expected to be heard and acted on by the McKinney City Council at a March 18 meeting, the city’s website states.
