Construction on McKinney’s new passenger terminal at the airport has begun — despite community pushback.
The 46,000 square-foot passenger terminal will have four gates and the option to add two more according to a press release from the airport. The terminal will also have concessions and a parking lot with 980 spaces and a dedicated access road off FM 546. The added gates are designed to serve 200,000 passengers annually.
McKinney Mayor Bill Cox praised the city’s efforts to expand its airport at a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday.
“This new terminal is not just an investment in McKinney, it’s an investment in the future of North Texas,” Cox said.
McKinney voters struck down $200 million in bond funds for expanding the city’s regional airport for commercial use in 2023. But the city is still moving forward with the project. The council approved $58 million in construction contracts for the expansion in early May.
Critics of the airport have said the McKinney city council is ignoring the will of the voters. Cox said the voters were against the funding mechanism in 2023, not the passenger terminal as a whole. The $200 million dollar bond would’ve used property taxes to pay for a 16-gate terminal. The city is using sales tax dollars and federal and state grant funding for the airport, including a $7 million grant from the Texas Department of Transportation.
“It's a more realistic opportunity and it's funded not by taxpayer dollars, not by the citizens of McKinney,” Cox said.
McKinney residents and businesses making purchases or paying for services — as well as nonresidents and businesses outside the city limits — contribute to McKinney’s sales tax revenues.
Former McKinney Mayor George Fuller said voters showed their support for expanding the airport in the recent city council elections. Cox defeated former State Representative Scott Sanford in a runoff election for mayor. Sanford was seen as the anti-airport candidate.
“All the opponents that lost were ran their campaign on being against the airport, from mayor all the way down,” Fuller said. “So I think the community has spoken loud and clear.”
A group called the North Texas Conservation Association recently filed a federal lawsuit in an attempt to void the environmental assessment for the airport expansion. The environmental group alleges that TxDOT’s environmental assessment, which included a finding of no significant impact on the environment, failed to meet standards set in the National Environmental Policy Act. The conservation group is asking the court to remand the assessment back to TxDOT for a more thorough review.
Steven E. Ross, the secretary and general counsel for the North Texas Conservation Association, said the environmental assessment doesn’t adequately address several environmental concerns, including how the Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary will be impacted.
“There's just a multitude of things that could be done, and we don't think the city has thought through those,” he said.
The city said it will “vigorously defend the findings” of the environmental assessment and seek to have the lawsuit dismissed.
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