On April 19, 2023, McKinney held an open house meeting to present the preliminary findings of environmental studies for the proposed commercial air service terminal at McKinney National Airport. Despite the studies results showing that only undeveloped areas of the city would be affected by noise, now two neighboring cities are raising concerns about the project.
While McKinney Mayor George Fuller keeps on pushing for the approval of the project ahead of the May elections when the fate of the $200 million bond to finance the airport expansion will be decided in the ballot, neighboring mayors are receiving pressure to oppose it.
According to the WFAA, Fairview Mayor Henry Lessner said his city would be affected by the noise and traffic brought about by the airport. Fairview is the closest city to the planned runway, with some communities sitting along McKinney National’s flight path.
“I get 50 to 100 calls during the course of a week,” said Lessner. “We are the ones impacted by the noise and pollution generated by that airport.”
Similarly, some 8 miles southeast of McKinney, Lucas Mayor Jim Olk worries people traveling from the south to McKinney to catch a fly would have to drive right through the 7,600-citizen city.
“People trying to get from south of the airport to the airport from the north is going to be tremendous and it’s going to go right through our neighborhoods,” Olk told WFAA. “To me, they’re putting the cart before the horse. They should have done a study about what is the impact regionally.”
But Fuller believes the airport could very well be an asset for the whole region. As previously reported by Local Profile, an economic impact study conducted by Vancourver-based InterVISTAS Consulting found that the airport could create 1,040 direct jobs in its first year alone, while commercial operations could support over 3,200 jobs in total with wages amounting to $265 million. In this optimistic report, the airport would end up generating $850 million in economic activity plus $115 million in tax revenue.
However, Lessner is not sold on the economic impact argument. “I have seen the numbers and the studies and frankly I don’t see this small passenger terminal having much of an impact at all,” he said in a letter to the city of McKinney. “If a third regional passenger airport is needed, there is a better alternative up in Grayson County – the North Texas Regional Airport.”
“We’re working with the FAA on amending the flight path where it will not be over Heritage Ranch and the communities being very vocal and have the concerns,” responded Fuller when asked about the concerns raised by the neighboring cities by WFAA. Adding that, while the bond vote is just one step, the airport expansion is inevitable.
The $200 million bond will be an item in the May 6 elections and another $100 million is expected to be provided by McKinney’s EDC and CDC.