Recall opponents have portrayed McKinney’s recall campaign as a backlash to the City Council’s approval of a mosque site plan. Organizers reject that characterization, and an unrelated realtor video is drawing attention to broader concerns they cite about airport expansion, growth, spending and City Hall’s responsiveness.
Wendy Pannell, the broker of record at OnTrack Realty, published the 14-minute video on August 12. It had drawn more than 48,000 views by August 21. Nothing in Pannell’s video or its description mentions the recall organizers, the mosque vote or the McKinney Islamic Association, and The Dallas Express has not established any connection between Pannell and the recall campaign.
Broker warns buyers about airport expansion
Pannell approached the issue through a real estate and home-value analysis. She acknowledged the potential citywide benefits of business growth while warning buyers to consider how development could affect individual properties. “McKinney wants the city to win, and there’s nothing wrong with that. But a city can win while your house loses,” she said in the video.
Pannell said unnamed sellers told her they wanted to leave McKinney because of aircraft noise and the scheduled arrival of commercial passenger flights. “Wendy, we hate it here now. We had no idea we’d hear planes this often or that they’d be this loud. We never even thought to check before we bought,” Pannell quoted one seller as saying.
Pannell said the seller continued, “That’s just from the small planes already flying in and out. They have commercial flights starting in November. Once real airlines start landing here, it is only going to get worse. The clock’s ticking and we want out.” The account comes from Pannell, and The Dallas Express has not independently verified the sellers’ experience.
Recall campaign cites broader concerns
Five McKinney voters filed a recall affidavit on August 11 targeting Mayor Bill Cox, At Large 1 Council Member Ernest Lynch, District 3 Council Member Geré Feltus and District 1 Council Member Justin Beller, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
The affidavit cites one ground: “A loss of public confidence in the ability of the officers named herein to faithfully represent the citizens of the City of McKinney.” It cites neither the mosque nor any specific council vote.
Recall organizer John Aselton has identified spending, transparency, growth, infrastructure and government responsiveness as issues behind the campaign. “Residents have repeatedly raised concerns about spending, transparency, growth, infrastructure, and whether City Hall is listening to the people it serves,” Aselton told The Dallas Express.
Recall organizers told The Dallas Express they had collected about 1,500 signatures by August 19. They need 5,805 valid signatures by 5 p.m. September 26 to advance the petition.
Recall opponents raise economic concerns
Former Mayor George Fuller, who opposes the recall and serves on the McKinney Community Development Corporation board, has warned that controversy surrounding the recall could damage the city’s reputation with employers, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
“Businesses, corporations, investors and site selectors considering McKinney are watching,” Fuller wrote in a Facebook post. He later added, “Our businesses are watching. Our prospective employers are watching. The country is watching.”
Fuller attributed his concerns to rhetoric targeting Muslims and political opportunism, and he opposes the recall. Pannell did not discuss the recall or the mosque. Her video examined McKinney’s economic plans from the perspective of homebuyers and sellers.
McKinney resident Mo Azfal Choudhary opposed the recall at the August 18 council meeting and pushed back on claims involving Islam and Sharia law. “I don’t know a single Muslim who’s asking to replace the Constitution with Sharia Law,” Choudhary said. An overwhelming majority of speakers at the meeting opposed the recall, The Dallas Express reported.
McKinney’s 2040 economic plan
The city’s ONE McKinney 2040 Comprehensive Plan guides the placement of new homes, businesses and amenities across approximately 116 square miles of McKinney and its extraterritorial jurisdiction. The city originally adopted it on October 2, 2018, and has amended it several times.
The plan’s economic-development strategy describes a road map covering more than 20 years for using land to strengthen McKinney’s economy. It calls for proactive investment initiatives, strategic land acquisition, infrastructure construction and incentives. It also lists airport expansion among six tactics intended to make McKinney more competitive for business investment.
Pannell credited the city for seeking a balance between residential and commercial development. “McKinney wanted that same balance for itself. And honestly, that’s a good instinct,” she said. She then questioned how airport expansion and related development could affect homeowners.
The official Business & Aviation District plan supports that economic focus. It strongly discourages suburban-style residential development near the airport, programs manufacturing, warehousing, light industry and flexible employment space, and projects that the district will add 4,000 jobs by 2040. The document says the area should become McKinney’s largest concentration of businesses and industries.
McKinney pursued commercial passenger service before the 2023 bond election. In February 2018, the city approved an airport tax-increment plan that called for continued preparation for commercial passenger service and cited a 2009 airport strategy with future commercial service goals.
Two votes, another funding route
McKinney voters rejected a $50 million airport-improvements proposition in 2015, according to the city’s official bond history. In 2023, voters rejected a separate $200 million general obligation bond proposal for a commercial passenger terminal.
Pannell said the city changed its funding source instead of changing direction. The city has said it responded to the 2023 vote by finding financing that does not rely on property-tax-backed general obligation bonds. Its airport FAQ states, “We heard our voters, and found another way forward to bring important air service to North Texas.”
The city’s current plan calls for a 46,000-square-foot terminal with four gates, room to expand to six and a 980-space parking lot. Avelo Airlines plans to begin service November 11, offering nonstop flights to Las Vegas, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando and Tampa.
McKinney projects that continued airport spending, including the terminal and commercial service, could add $400 million to the airport’s annual economic output, bringing the total above $700 million. Pannell acknowledged the potential for jobs, visitors and business activity while warning buyers to consider noise, traffic, construction and future land use.
Airport bond litigation
Pannell also discussed the airport-bond litigation. McKinney and the McKinney Community Development Corporation filed a Chapter 1205 bond-validation case in Travis County in April, as The Dallas Express previously reported. The statutory defendant class includes residents, property owners, ratepayers and taxpayers whose rights the bonds could affect.
Critics have characterized that filing as the city suing its residents. McKinney disputes that description and says the proceeding names a statutory class to validate public financing rather than asserting personal claims against individual residents. The parties later agreed to pause the Travis County case while an earlier Collin County challenge to roughly $30 million in airport-related bonds proceeds.
Pannell advised buyers to study city plans, avoid assuming open land will remain undeveloped and consider established neighborhoods where fewer major land-use changes remain possible.
Provided by Dallas Express
