McKinney council approves rezoning for Cannon Beach project

City leaders approved new zoning to accommodate the future Cannon Beach surf resort at the northeast corner of Stacy Road and SH 121.

What happened?

McKinney City Council members approved new zoning for more than 58 acres during an April 21 meeting. The land is being rezoned as a planned development district that allows a mix of uses expected at the future surf park.

The new zoning will follow many of the same development regulations as “C3” commercial zoning districts, according to a city document. The property is being rezoned primarily to include an outdoor water recreation and entertainment facility as a new use, Planning Director Lucas Raley said.

Two deviations related to parking and residential adjacency were included in the zoning request, he said. City staff recommended approval of the zoning request, according to the city document.

McKinney’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted to recommend approval of the request during an April 14 meeting.

More information

Sam Lawrence of Cross Architects spoke on behalf of the applicant during the meeting. His presentation included a conceptual site plan for the project. Preliminary plans include retail, restaurant and office space in addition to a 150-room hotel.

Developers requested a 10-foot reduction in residential adjacency buffer on the development’s north side, where it borders single-family homes, Lawrence said. This allows installation of a parking lot that would be used for employee parking, he said.

“The buffer will have screening and vegetation to help absorb any sound from the park,” Lawrence said. “We’ll have wrought-iron fencing in the back, which will help with additional security and will reduce noise from the lagoon.”

Parking standards are also being adjusted so that parking calculations are counted on a district-wide basis, according to Lawrence’s presentation. Developers are anticipating shared parking between uses within the development, according to a development standards document.

“The running count of parking will be accumulated for the total use value, and we’ll have to maintain that number or exceed that number by each use that is added on,” Lawrence said.

A lot of the city’s parking ratios are established for single uses, such as commercial or entertainment, Raley said.

“We understand that in this scenario, a lot of people who come and park, they’re going to visit multiple of those destinations on this one site,” he said. “So those parking ratios have been adjusted per the developer’s request.”

The background

The $200 million surf resort was announced in 2024 and is being developed by the Cannon Development Group. It’s partnering with the city of McKinney, McKinney Economic Development Corp. and McKinney Community Development Corp.

It will be built on 35 acres previously owned by MEDC, which still owns the land located directly east of the future development. MCDC awarded $4 million to the project in February 2025 for infrastructure improvements.

City and development officials broke ground on the project in December. The finished product will include a 3-acre surf lagoon, lazy river and a mineral hot springs circuit. Its first phase is projected to open in mid-2027.