Parking in downtown McKinney is an issue that's been talked about for years.
Voters rejected a bond to build a five-story garage in November. Now, the city is considering other ways to accommodate the influx of visitors.
More than a dozen people spoke at Tuesday's city council meeting, where parking was once again on the agenda.
The plan, as it stands, is to create 444 parking spaces on a nine-acre site at the southwest corner of Davis Street and Highway 5.
There are 523 parking spaces on the site now.
"So it's going to get worse," McKinney resident Linda Spina said.
To make up for the loss, city leaders proposed on Tuesday adding 100 more spaces below-ground at a cost of $2 million, or $20,000 per space.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"I feel like we can do more with that $2 million somewhere else," business owner Rick Wells said in the meeting.
Adding to the parking problem, some say, is the housing, office and retail space that will also be built on the site.
Michael Quint, executive director of development services for the city of McKinney, said the underground lot is one option the city considered.
"For the last probably 10 years we've talked about seven sites in and around the downtown where additional parking could be located. Nine acres is on top of that, so those 444 that we've being talking about is one segment of the overall parking strategy," Quint said.
Council members denied the proposal Tuesday, sending the city back to the drawing board again.
The city also agreed to create a downtown parking committee to take a closer look at resolving parking problems sooner than later.
