Title
Discuss Potential Park Development to Serve the Trinity Heights Subdivision
Summary
COUNCIL GOAL: Enhance the Quality of Life in McKinney
MEETING DATE: August 14, 2017
DEPARTMENT: Parks & Recreation
CONTACT: Michael Kowski, AICP CUD, Director of Parks & Recreation
RECOMMENDED CITY COUNCIL ACTION:
• Consider and discuss potential park development to serve the Trinity Heights subdivision.
ITEM SUMMARY:
• Mayor Fuller and Council member Shemwell have requested that staff review ideas for a park to serve the Trinity Heights subdivision, which currently does not have dedicated parkland or similar amenities within or abutting the neighborhood.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
• Trinity Heights is a 40-acre, single-family subdivision containing 168 lots located on the east side of SH 5 and south of Bloomdale Road.
• The City approved the subdivision in 2003 and the neighborhood is completely built out. There is an active HOA that, among other things, owns and maintains common areas within the subdivision.
• The City approved Trinity Heights without a dedicated park. Per the metrics in effect at that time, the developer was required to contribute cash in lieu of physical land based upon a parkland dedication requirement of roughly 2.5-acres, or $88,200.
• The City, then and now, considers accepting cash in lieu of physical parkland in those instances where the dedication requirement is under 10-acres.
• Today, park facilities near this subdivision include North Park/Juanita Maxfield Aquatic Center (15-acres) located about 1-mile to the south, and Inspiration Park (10-acres) situated approximately 1.3-miles to the northwest and attached to Naomi Press Elementary School within the Pecan Ridge subdivision. Oak Hollow Golf Course is also less than one-half mile to the south. These amenities are located on the west side of SH 5, and the measurements referenced above are based on driving/walking distances.
• A 10.4 acre common area wraps around the north and east sides of the Trinity Heights development and remains undeveloped. This land is owned and maintained by the Trinity Heights HOA. The HOA has the right to improve the common area (i.e. install passive or active park amenities) as it sees fit provided that all necessary approvals, if required, are obtained from the City and applicable outside agencies.
• The residents of Trinity Heights have contacted the City on multiple occasions requesting that we take over ownership and maintenance of the common area. The residents further desire the City to convert some portion of the common area into a public park. A formal request was brought forward to the Council as recently as 2012, and the final decision was to keep things as they stand due to the unique property characteristics described below.
• General access and visibility into the common area is extremely limited due to the layout of the existing houses. Non-vehicular access points exist at both the northeast and northwest corners of Trinity View Drive. Evidence from a recent site visit confirms that the HOA mows the access points and may also mow portions of the main common area a limited number of times a year.
• The majority of the common area is located within the 100 year floodplain and is covered by a Common Area, Drainage and Floodway Easement, as well as various Access, Overflow and Utility Easements.
• The natural features of the common area include rolling topography significantly lower than the abutting developed lots (retaining walls are present), multiple acres of standing water, tributaries to the East Fork of the Trinity River, and pockets of marshlands, wetland plants, and mature tree canopies. A small flat area exists at the northeast quadrant of the parcel that is used to capture and convey storm water discharge from the subdivision’s storm sewers.
• Staff also looked at a 6.81 acre tract immediately east of Trinity Height’s common area that is owned by the City. This parcel shares the same natural features as the HOA’s common area, but it is even more isolated from the perspective of both access and visibility. Moreover, the working draft of the City’s updated Comprehensive Plan contemplates a new road connection across this parcel as part of a new Master Thoroughfare Plan.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY:
• N/A
BOARD OR COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION:
• N/A