What happened?
McKinney City Council members approved the license agreement during an Oct. 6 meeting for the Seed Project Foundation to construct the community farm. The agreement enables the foundation to construct and maintain a community farm on 62 acres of parkland purchased by the city in 2016.
The community farm will be named “McKinney Roots at Gray Branch Park.” McKinney Roots is an initiative of the Seed Project Foundation that distributes fresh produce to local nonprofits and churches within Collin County, according to its website.
“This item is the culmination of a lot of work since early this year on a license agreement with [founder] Rick Wells and his nonprofit Seed Project Foundation to work on the park property,” City Attorney Mark Houser said.
The agreement will last 10 years and includes an option to extend by an additional five years. Either the city or the nonprofit would have the ability to terminate the agreement if construction has not started by Feb. 1, 2026, according to the agreement.
The details
Seed Project Foundation officials intend to construct and maintain a nonprofit community farm and public park facility on the land. Improvements made to the park will be used to provide year-round educational and recreational farming programs for children and adults, according to the agreement.
Improvements are expected to come in two phases. First phase construction must be completed by April 1, 2026, and second phase construction must be completed by Jan. 31, 2027, according to the agreement.
- First phase: land preparation for planting and irrigating crops
- Second phase: building and parking lot improvements
