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E-mail This StoryThe property that used to be home to the former McKinney Country Club and golf course may eventually be a subdivision of 73 houses if the potential buyer can secure water and sewer easements to the site.
Scott Goodman, a partner with Goodman Land Advisors of Dallas, who founded Goodman Homes, has a signed contract on the property located on Country Club Road, next to the Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary.
Goodman has yet to close on the property as he is waiting to see if he can get sewer and water easements from the city of McKinney.
“The contract has been signed and we're trying to obtain sewer and water from the neighbors, such as the Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary,” Goodman said.
He expects to know by April 15 if he can get the water and sewer lines, Goodman said.
Goodman has worked with the city of McKinney and the Heard Natural Science and Wildlife Sanctuary, which tried acquiring the land but did not raise enough money to purchase it, to ensure the development does not hurt the museum or any other of its neighbors, said Don Paschal, who is working for Goodman as a consultant on the project.
“We're hoping to get the easements done within 60 days. We're making very good progress on technical issues. We have a very positive relationship with the Heard Museum and that's a very special piece of property,” Paschal said.
Goodman has done preliminary engineering with the city just to get the project correct, said Paschal, who is a former city manger for the city of McKinney. The McKinney City Council could see the request for easements on a council agenda in early March, Paschal said.
“We're going to go in there and do it right so we don't hurt the museum. Some of the considerations that we're working with the city's engineering department is that we're going to bore under trees. We have done some engineering work in advance on the grading as the city's main sewer line runs through that property,” Paschal said. “We didn't want to end up having a sewage backup on the Heard Museum site.”
Berms will be built along Country Club Road and on the property's eastern edge that is closest to the Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary to give the property more of a rural setting and to create a separation of the subdivision from the museum and Country Club Road, Paschal said.
Native plants and trees will be planted throughout the subdivision to keep the landscaping close to that of the Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary, Paschal said.
“We're trying to do everything we can to give it that natural feel,” Paschal said.
The site has a large lake located close to Country Club Road on the southwest section of the property that will be retained and will have a bridge for residents to use, Goodman said.
“It's got a beautiful lake and we'll have a bridge on the lake for joggers and a lot of the houses will be near a greenbelt that will be near the Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary. We're trying to work with our neighbors. We're building it to have a rural feeling,” Goodman said.
The subdivision will be called Serenity and will include 73 residential lots with houses that cost $650,000 to $1 million, Goodman said. The smallest lot will be 12,000 square feet and the largest lot will be 31,000 square feet, or close to 3/4 of an acre, Goodman said. The majority of the lots will be 18,000 square feet.
If the city grants Goodman the easements, he hopes construction on the infrastructure can begin early this summer and construction on the houses can begin in summer 2008.
Goodman is no stranger to developing subdivisions in McKinney. He developed the Lakeside Village and Tanglewood neighborhoods in Stonebridge Ranch.
He's also developing the Lakes of Prosper subdivision in Prosper.
Contact staff writer Brandi Hart at hartb@acnpapers.com. To post comments online, access this story at www.scntx.com.
