Council to vote on Feb. 3 on the western alignment of the FM 543 Connector Road

Baylor Health Care Systems and other property owners to address concerns in public hearing

Construction set to begin on Dr. Pepper StarCenter ice rink on Feb. 3, to be completed in September

By Brandi Hart
McKinneyUpdate.com editor
Created at 11:15 p.m. on Feb. 2, 2009

The fate of where a new four to six lane road known as the Farm-to-Market Road 543 Connector Road will be built near many people's homes who live just north of the city limits and near vacant property that is owned by Baylor Health Care Systems will be decided on Feb. 3 by the McKinney City Council.

The council will hold a public hearing and will vote on the western segment of the FM 543 Connector Road alignment at the Feb. 3 council meeting. About 10 property owners and Bob Roeder, a local attorney representing Baylor Health Care Systems, which owns land south of the proposed road, attended the Monday council workshop where council members and city staff discussed the road. The Baylor property is not the property that is at the northwest corner of Lake Forest Drive and US 380 where a hospital with a seven story patient room tower will be built, along with a medical office building.

Property owners Paul Powell, Kathy Harris and others who own homes along Geren Trail north of where the alignment for the road is slated to be, and in the city's Extraterritorial Jurisdiction, or ETJ, also attended the meeting. Harris, Powell and other homeowners have previously asked in public hearings held about the road alignment that the city move the alignment farther south from their homes to save a tree line south of their homes, which would serve as a sound and visual barrier for the new road.

However, by moving the alignment farther south of the tree line, it would place the alignment onto some of Baylor's property located south of the road. Baylor is asking that the city keep its original alignment of closer to the trees.

City Council member for District 4 Ray Ricchi said Baylor had a little more leverage in asking for the alignment to be moved farther away from the Baylor property as Baylor actually owns land in the city limits rather than people that live along Geren Trail, who aren't tax payers in the city. While the ETJ residents there do not pay actual city taxes today as they live outside of the city limits, they could eventually become city residents if the city were to ever annex the land in its northern and northwestern ETJ.

The city also notified the property owners, including those in the city limits and in the ETJ, who own property within 200 feet of the road alignment of the workshop meeting and about the Feb. 3 council meeting as the road alignment will ultimately affect all of the property owners.

Ricchi also inquired if the city had an arborist evaluate the species of trees that are located south of the Geren Trail home owners. The city did in fact have an arborist evaluate the tree line and found that it includes many types of trees, such as pecan, osage orange trees, and other varieties, said Rich Larkins, the city's transportation manager who presented the information to council.

Harris and her daughter's McKinney based Girl Scouts troop have also collected more than 800 signatures from mostly McKinney residents in a petition that was submitted to the council in May, 2008 to preserve the tree line south of the homes of the Geren Trail residents, and trees throughout McKinney in regards to road development. Collin County Sheriff Terry Box, Collin County Commissioner for Pct. 3 Joe Jaynes, and McKinney Economic Development Corporation board member Marta Gore are just some McKinney residents who signed the petition.

All council members were present during the discussion of the road alignment except for Council member for District 2 Geralyn Kever, who recused herself from the discussion as she is connected to First Baptist Church, which also owns about 40 acres south of the FM 543 Connector road.

In other news, City Manager Frank Ragan said construction is slated to begin on Feb. 3, 2009 on the Dr Pepper StarCenter ice rink that will be built in Craig Ranch. Construction of the ice rink is expected to be completed by September of this year, said Trish Jackson of Jackson A & E Associates. The council is slated to vote on a professional services contract with Jackson A & E to provide owner's representative services for the design and construction of the McKinney Dr Pepper StarCenter. The McKinney Community Development Corporation voted seven to one to approve $5.5 million for the construction of the ice rink. The city will own the land, which will be in McKinney and in the Frisco ISD, and the city will

Pictured above is a rendering of the McKinney Dr Pepper StarCenter at Craig Ranch. Courtesy rendering from the city of McKinney's Planning Department.

Council member for District 4 Ray Ricchi left the council chambe

s during the discussion of the contract and the McKinney Dr Pepper StarCenter due to a conflict as he is a partner in The Ballfields at Craig Ranch, which is adjacent to the StarCenter site.

The council will also act on the following items at the Feb. 3 meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. and is held at city hall, 222 N. Tennessee St.: