The city of McKinney has hired a consultant company to help guide the city as it moves forward with implementing the McKinney 2040 Comprehensive Plan, adopted last year. Consulting firm Clarion Associates specializes in development codes. Clarion will help the city update its development regulations and modernize its ordinances, including subdivision and zoning ordinances, said Jennifer Arnold, McKinney Director of Planning. "Anything relating to zoning is up for consideration," Arnold said. Updating regulations is one of the city’s top priorities listed in the comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan is a guide to provide a basis for future zoning, public investments in transportation and infrastructure improvements. The plan applies to all aspects of McKinney and includes strategies for land use and development, mobility, economic development, fiscal health, public investment and implementation. According to the plan, 40 percent of the city still remains unincorporated, and by 2040 the population is expected to be 301,129. The city is attempting to utilize this empty space by building out the city by district. “The approach that we’ve used in McKinney is really to identify districts that are associated with unique assets,” said Mark Bowers, Kimley Horn practice builder and leader of the 2040 plan project, in a previous Community Impact Newspaper article. “You can create unique areas around those assets, and really the intent is that you can have districts in the community that aren’t competing with each other, and people can choose where they want to go to live, work or play.” These districts will include the scenic district, the medical district centered around the existing hospital and others that will be curated around their characteristics. Editor's note: This article has been updated to include additional comment from the city.