City Commission - workshop

Workshop of the McAllen City Commission held in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. All workshops are open to the public and serve as an opportunity for city staff to present detailed information, reports, and updates to the commission in preparation for future action or decisions. While no formal votes are taken during these sessions, workshops play an important role in the city's policy making and decision making process.

workshop, and today I think we're going to have some fun. I hope so. I think we will. First, any questions regarding our 5 o'clock meeting? Any questions? None, Mayor. Let's hit it.

Alright, Mayor. Well, about, what, a year ago, Denny? About a year. A little bit less. We acquired the acreage north of the Lark Community Center with plans for future recreation expansion. And so we have director of parks and recreation, Denny Moline here to go through some conceptual drawings with the commission. We're looking for some feedback from you. And then based on what we get, we'll go start working on design. But Denny has a, a solid presentation on what we might be able to do with this property in terms of adding to the inventory of park amenities that we have and expanding what we have to offer.

Thank you. Good afternoon, and thank you for allowing me to present this new vision for McAllen. Today's workshop goes back, we actually met in 2023 and then in 2025 to bring a conceptual design of a new vision for McAllen. And so based on that, the team and I put together a conceptual design to what we could place in this new green space that city manager mentioned there at Lark. I'm going to be going through some slides with you today. Just remember, some of these amenities were based upon our new updated master plan done in 2023, and then some discussions with City Commissioners on elements that they would like to see in this new park. We'll go ahead and get started there. So as you can see on my right, your left, the park statistics, it's about 32 acres of gross acreage and about 26 net. We do have the west plat at 19 acres and the east plat seven. So these plats are divided by a drainage ditch. And then there's about six acres left that we did not purchase that would be there for retail off of 23rd. So this is the conceptual layout. It is not to scale. Keep that in mind as well. But there you see on my right, your left, the index of the amenities that we would like to see or that we put in place. So you have a recreation center. You have an aquatic center splash pad, a playground area, open green space and stage. A putt-putt 18-hole golf course, tennis courts, dog park, plaza gathering space, and of course the parking lot down there at the bottom. The drainage ditch is not that full. It's not a river. It's just a drainage ditch to just give you a concept of putting bridge over that to connect both paths together. So the first slide here, we're showing a concept of an aquatic complex. Something that we don't have here in McAllen is the lazy river and a little area for the kids to play at. Also, we would incorporate an eight-lane, 50-meter pool with four lanes of 25 meters. So our current pools that we have are only 25-meter lanes. And so in this concept, you'll see everything is attached together, and so it kind of flows together. So you'll have cabana seating, plenty of shading. Then you have the restroom, concession, and the pool pump room on that backside. Questions? Okay. The next slide we're gonna show a tennis center. I know this was a discussion back in 2023 that we do a standalone tennis center that the city operates. And so this depicts 12 courts. We can go as high as 16 courts. I know Mack High has 16 courts currently. THE SURROUNDING CITIES HAVE AROUND 12. THIS WOULD PROVIDE TOURNAMENT PLAY, OPEN PLAY, PROGRAMMING, AND THEN LOOKING AT THE TEXAS A&M TENNIS CENTER, WHERE WE HAVE CHAMPIONSHIP SEATING IN THE MIDDLE, SO THAT WAY THEY CAN LOOK BOTH SIDES OF THE COURTS WITH SHADES. SO IT'S DEPICTED UP THERE IN THE MIDDLE TO WHERE YOU WOULD SEE CHAMPIONSHIP SEATING, SOMETHING CLOSE TO THAT OF WHAT TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY HAS. This next concept was something that the team and I thought was interesting. We visited the Sin Lawn website there in San Antonio, and they actually produced these 18, or these putt-putt golf courses. This one actually sits on less than an acre. And it's 18 holes. So it's all synthetic turf. There'll be plenty of shading there. And it's something that we think that could bring families out to this park together. Let me just go back. One of the concepts that the city commission wanted us to look at was having one single park where we can bring families together. Instead of divvying it up throughout the city, we would have one central location where families can come together and partake in the festivities at one park. The next concept is an open green space with a small stage, something that city manager and Ms. Alvira Alonso and I discussed. Arts Landing in Pittsburgh had just created something like this in their downtown area. And so we wanted to bring families together. And so this one here, this picture that you see could be a dual share usage. I did the AstroTurf with lines. So if we weren't having an event, kids can come out there and do some informal activities. play, pass the soccer ball, throw the football. I also incorporated some water fountains and in-ground trampolines. Doesn't necessarily have to go here. Maybe it's around this area where we are showing movies in the park, and then the kids have extra activities that they can do while watching the movie. So that's the concept here. This is just another dog park, another concept that Sinlon, the vendor in San Antonio created. And again, this is just decomposing granite with AstroTurf amenities. This will be for both large and small dogs. And so it just brings another dog park attraction to our city. This one here shows the recreation center campus that we discussed in 2025. This one will actually be a 40,000 square foot facility that will host four basketball courts, eight volleyball courts, a 10,000 square foot synthetic turf area where, if you can see in the pictures below, we can drop down batting cages or have open training. Another concept also that we don't have in McAllen is a rock wall, a climbing wall. So those are options that could go inside this facility. And then we can house pickleball as well inside this facility if needed. Spectator seating, restrooms, locker rooms, and then a small conference room.

What area is that located in?

That one will be there at that plant as well. So if you go back.

Right here.

It's in the upper right corner, but again, it's not to scale, so. Yeah, we have it in the upper right-hand corner there, number one.

Got it.

These are some active play amenities that could be in the park. As you know, we opened up the fitness court there at Bill Shoup. Hopefully we can partner with another organization to get another fitness court at Xenia Park. So the one in the middle you see there is a ninja warrior course. If you've ever seen the show Ninja Warriors, this is a duplicate of that system, which allows a different type of play. And then again, we could take a look at installing a bigger playground area and then adding some nature climb areas to that where the queue has it already. And then we're bringing one parkour to Camp McAllen here very soon. So just different play elements that we could add to that park. The next slide is what was depicted in an open space. So you have the in-ground trampoline zone, and then you have those splash pads. So we have four splash pads currently in McAllen. And then the ones that you're looking there on the screen would kind of mimic the one that we have at McAllen Sports Park. Where we have tournaments, we turn that on for the tournament organizer, especially in the summer. So those could be elements we could place around the park as well. I KNOW SOME OF THE CITY COMMISSIONERS ALSO WOULD LIKE TO SEE SCULPTURES AROUND THE CITY, AND SO WE INCORPORATED SOME OF THIS INTO THIS PARK. SO THAT COULD BE AN OPTION AS WELL. FIND SOMETHING UNIQUE TO MCCALLEN, AND THEN GO AHEAD AND WE CAN INSTALL THOSE IN THE PARK. SO AGAIN, THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE OF THIS IS TO BRING FAMILIES OUT THAT ENRICH AND CULTURE THEIR LIVES, AND SO ADDING ARTWORK INTO OUR PARKS I THINK IS SOMETHING THAT IS UNIQUE, AND WE CURRENTLY DON'T HAVE in McAllen. Along with that, we can also go ahead and put some of these butterfly gardens in our parks. And so if you see these designs down here, these have been incorporated in other city parks. Just, again, gives that unique look, unique flavor where families can get out and go. And again, everything would be native to our area. And this also gives us some color, right? And so we want all types of individuals and families to come out to this park so that way we can have something for everyone. These are just a couple of signages that we were looking at. Of course, the one down there on the bottom right is what we already have at the McAllen Youth Baseball Complex. And so just different signage, wayfinding to make the facility more appealing. And then we go back into just more of the amenities, the decorative steel fencing. And then, of course, we would go with some LED lights. They would hold back the glare, which we have at Las Palmas. Community community center the turf fields there that backlight doesn't reflect back into the neighborhood And so it's only supposed to be focused in on the field. And so again, this would be up at the tennis courts If we if we had placed Those things are gonna be also pickleball courts. No, sir. Hopefully on budget City manager did approve A project that we are going to install five pickleball courts at McAllen Youth Baseball Complex. We got some green space by the Miracle Field, the outfield that's not currently being used. It's already fenced in. We already got lights there.

How big is it? How big is that area?

That baseball field, I don't know the dimensions right off the top, Commissioner, but it's a normal-sized field. But with the reduction of the Miracle Field, it left a pretty good space in the outfield for us to convert that into some pickleball courts.

And no neighbors to complain.

Correct.

Exactly, Mayor. Our concern in the conversations that Denny and I had was the density of the residential around this area and the feedback we've gotten with respect to paddle and pickle areas. We didn't think it was appropriately located at this particular park.

And it's a good space?

Yeah.

But tennis, yes?

Yes.

All right. Tennis.

All right. Any questions? Well, we want your feedback. Yeah.

These were concepts that... You have basketball, you have tennis, you have swimming, you have many putt-putts. Dog park, play area, sculptures.

Amphitheater, trampoline zones, black mat. This is a very complete project.

And we have to remember, we have the park property to the south adjacent to the community center that can also be incorporated into this space. So in terms of where we locate amenities, it doesn't all have to be on this property. It could be to the south. And then also enhancing the fields on the backside of the school district.

As we're doing this, I think we have to because I think If we can do something 80% that even comes out 80% as nice as this looks, we definitely need the south to also complement.

And we've taken a look into that as well.

Yes, sir. And you mentioned there were some restrooms at the pavilion, but are there any restrooms anywhere else?

We will have restrooms at the tennis courts, the aquatic center, and we'll probably have to place some around. Single stalls around the park. Yeah. I mean, it's a pretty, it's a pretty big plat. So.

Well, we'll look at that tennis and what functional for. Tournament, you know, play. There might be one of them could be a little more stadium. A little more, a little more. So they could have a sitting room and capacity and. So that's your featured board-type scenario? That's for your finals and stuff like that?

I mean, those definitely we're going to be working on.

I think it's an amazing plan. We obviously don't have anything like this really throughout the city. It would be, to your point, if you get 80% of this, it's going to be a huge win. One point of concern is sometimes you try to fit too much in there and you really degrade the experience for the components that you have in there. So I would just caution about maybe trying to fit too much in and making sure that you're Providing enough space for each of the different components so that it's not a you know a Just a 50-50 experience for any one of the components, but what you've got here is I think outstanding I would also I don't remember if I saw a big picture if you had something around a THE PERIMETER IF YOU HAVE, LIKE, A TRAIL, A RUNNING TRAIL AROUND THE ENTIRE FACILITY. I JUST DIDN'T REMEMBER.

WE'LL HAVE A TRAIL THAT WILL GO AROUND THE WHOLE COMPLEX AS WELL.

I LIKE THE FACT THAT YOU'VE ALREADY KIND OF ADDRESSED GARZA PARK IN TERMS OF TRYING TO INCORPORATE IT, AT LEAST LOOKING AT IT. MAYBE AS TIME GOES ON, I'D LIKE TO GET THAT FLESHED OUT. THAT PARK HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE THE EARLY 80s. Certainly there's some elements that can be incorporated on this vision on the north side certainly maybe one or two can be like Garza Second I don't see a space for a bus stop I know there in fact there is a bus stop almost right there where the number 10 is that or number 9 is on that diagram So that would be nice maybe with you and and Metro McAllen McAllen kind of take a look into that obviously we want people to have accessibility and I know that we have bike lanes on the 29th. We really can't have one on the 23rd. And you kind of somewhat can use it on Lark. But we certainly want to make it walkable, sustainable kind of mobility thing that you don't need a car, right? I don't want this thing to have more than 10, 15% of parking space because that space, that's not really the highest and best use for the vision that you're proposing. Maintenance. I know that you put the... I guess in the upper left-hand corner where number two is, the little water feature for the lazy river. Man, I'm already seeing that. That is gonna be a maintenance hog. I think we really need to, in every facility that we use, Uh, look at from the perspective of the ultimate costs, the initial office, obviously the initial capital outlay. For the project, or the item will be much, much less compared to the cost of maintenance over the life or the use of the of the item. Right? Um. I'm glad you mentioned the tennis center. I've never seen the one at A&M. I have seen the one at Texas where they have the seating right down the middle and the force off to the side. I think that's probably better use of the space there. Obviously, you don't see a side view, but I mean, the courts aren't like that terribly big. I know the pickleball was mentioned. I don't know how hard it would be to maybe have some of those courts where they could be retrofitted into a pickleball court if you have a competition, right, you know, to do that. Um, I know that we, we hosted the Texas Olympics about what, 4 years ago, 5 years ago. When it came to the aquatics, it went to another city.

Correct.

I would really like to see. Maximum use of the 8 lanes. I don't know what the standard is. Where you do have the seating and the, and it looks like you do have a. Awning or canopy there for shade. I think we lose out on those opportunities You know when they're they're looking at us again. I don't know if they are or we even pitched another application But you know I was around to see it. I'm not sure how many I think commissioner up in and Tony may have been here for that or have you It was a great draw I mean we think about it if we're really going to become and continue to be as a nation city aside from retail I You know, the ecotourism and certainly the sports tourism, we've got to capitalize on that, but we have to have the facilities that support it. And certainly, I mean, no offense to any of the surrounding cities. I'm glad they were able to pitch in where they could, but maybe I'm just egocentric on our city.

And so that's why we created the 50-meter eight lanes, and so that would be enough to hold the Games of Texas. We would just have to look at the seating capacity. That's where we would have to meet that standard.

How do you determine how much parking you need at a facility like this with so many different functions happening within it?

That's a good question. I'm going to have to get back with you on that one.

There's never enough.

Yeah, there's never enough. But I mean, this one we had conceptual designed it for about 500 parking spots.

That's a good point, because if you park, you only have one area for parking. People are going to have to walk really far to get to the other side. Which is the other thing, if we can take a look at maybe, like on this side, a little bit of parking. Yeah, yeah. And just kind of mix it up, if at all possible. Now, this location, as far as the retail, we don't own that.

Correct. Right?

Correct. Will biking be allowed? Cycling? Cycling or not cycling second, but greater bikes.

No, sir. No biking no biking And so commission that was a good thing about the parking and so one of the reasons why we chose this location because it sits in the the heart of Residential areas and so we're hoping that people would walk to it Mayor doesn't know yet city manager But we're gonna try to push for the the mayor's 10-minute walk pledge and so trying to find GREEN SPACE, TRAILS, PARKS, WITHIN 10 MINUTES OF THE RESIDENTIAL AREA IS GOING TO BE MY GOAL, OUR GOAL MOVING FORWARD. BUT DEFINITELY PARKING IS GOING TO BE SOMETHING THAT WE TAKE A LOOK INTO.

THE MAYOR IS ALWAYS DOING SOMETHING. THIS FRIDAY I'M GOING TO BE DOING ZUMBA AT 930 IN THE MORNING.

WHEN IS THE IDEA OF THE TRAMPOLINE PARK? THE TRAMPOLINE PARK, WHERE IS THAT?

So you've seen all these trampoline facilities that are being that were being popped up around, right? And so I think it was one of Commissioner Haddad. Had sent photos over want to say back in 2023 that he saw that in parks that he visited other cities too so.

What about a skate park? There is there a demand or an interest in that skateboarding?

We have two, three skate parks. They get utilized, but it's not a heavy request that we've seen.

I've never seen a single person.

Yeah, it's not a heavy request that we've seen or anything that's come up in talks of a master plan.

The only place where I see where it gets more used, actually when I leave the commission, especially now, is on Crockett, the other location.

Crockett, we have one.

Yeah, the location is like 21st and Houston.

We have one here on Hackberry, I mean Houston, coming this way, the little triangle, and then one at Escondon Park. And then we built a small one at Escondon.

I've never seen people in that one. Yeah, that one I've never seen. But Crockett's the only one I've seen, and even then it's like eight kids, it's not, you know, mass gatherings or anything. The other issue that I was bringing up also on the maintenance is that I think in concept that's really nice, but I already see that. We need a. You know, one of those maybe storage container boxes, you know, run up, have staff to run in, you know, to hand out.

Yes, sir, that design was supposed to have a little building in the middle of that complex to where we have the putt-putts and the golf balls and the scorecards. Right. So that was left off the rent.

I can assure you that putt-putt, the parents with little kids, I was in before. But just the issue of you're going to have to maintain it.

Correct. And staff... Those are the things that come with it.

That's going to be the bull.

Well, no, that's your big dollar item. I think you're absolutely right. And plenty of greens, trees, natives, no live oak, cedar elm.

We need to fill it with trees.

VERY NICE.

ANY OTHER FEEDBACK? NO. VERY NICE.

IT'S A BIG CITY ATTRACTION AND A THING THAT IS JUST VERY COMPLETE OR ANY LIKE, ALMOST ANY LIKE IN THE CITIZENS OF MECANDA, WHAT THEY HAVE, GAVE CONCERNS OR WHAT THEY WANT TO SEE IN OUR CITY. SO VERY NICE.

NO, NO, I JUST WANT TO THANK THE COMMISSION AND REALLY STAFF AND EVERYBODY FOR HAVING THE COURAGE TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS BECAUSE WE KNOW In the beginning, we were yes or no. We know about the cost, and we know how difficult it can be, but we also know about the demand and the need. And having something like this is incredible. So I always say that you've got to have the courage. You've got to do what you've got to do. If we can. We will. Yes, sir.

I would just like to leave you with some other famous words from Joe Vedda. May he rest in peace. It's only money.

ONE FINAL THOUGHT, HOW FAR ALONG IN THIS CONVERSATION WHEN THE ISSUE OF THE FINANCING AND ALL THAT COME ABOUT? LIKE IN THE NEXT SIX MONTHS, A YEAR?

YEAH, LET US GET SOME MORE LESS CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS DRAFTED UP AND THEN WE'LL START PRICING IT OUT AND LOOKING AT THAT. SO WE'LL HAVE MONEY FOR DANNY TO GET SOME DESIGNS DONE IN THE NEXT BUDGET AND THEN WE'LL START LOOKING AT WHAT CONSTRUCTION DOLLARS WE'LL NEED. We're going to have just a little preview for you as part of the budget conversation this year, and I'll talk to you more about that as we get closer to budget season, but some discussions about capacity that have not been included in any budget presentation that I've seen. So we'll address all of those questions for you as part of the budget process. Very well.

you're going through that pro that process keep in mind especially if you do something as significant as the sculpture garden that you have incorporated in here we have a number of individuals and foundations in the city that really feel strongly about that you might be able to get some real uh sponsorship for naming rights for each individual piece or something absolutely

And then I beg, borrow, steal, whatever it is to speed it up. Because people see. People don't see the drainage. They don't see the water. They don't see any of that stuff. So a lot of the time people think we're not moving. Yes, they can see.

Well, I'll beg, borrow. I'll skip the stealing part. Very well.

Thank you, Denny. Thank you. That is amazing. Thank you. Thank you, Denny. Thank you. Next item we have. Let's see, terminal expansion.

Jeremy's here to talk a little bit about some of the advancements we've made of late in the plans for the terminal expansion. We wanted to make sure you all were in a really good mood before he gave his presentation, so he let Danny go first.

Mayor, Commission, good afternoon. As you all know, we had the largest growth ever back in 23 to 24. In 24, we commenced the Terminal Capacity Study, which we came up with a program where we needed to add capacity to the terminal. And some of the other highlights from that whole study is this layout here that we started with. That added capacity was about 120,000 square feet added, four additional gates, all while keeping our existing service in play. And so to not impact that, that was a big, big item that we wanted to keep in the forefront. In addition to that, the stakeholders that we went through through the terminal capacity study included a wow factor. So I'll go over that wow factor as well. the um obviously some other items that with the added capacity or is adding restrooms expanding on the baggage claim setting up the central expansion for that wow factor adding the four additional gates and then looking at some refurbishment or some renovations in the existing terminal The existing terminal was built in 93, so it's over 30 plus years old. And so that's been a challenge in itself. And if you recall, the last presentation that I made to the commission was more about infrastructure and getting redundancy with the power, redoing some of the air handler units that have already failed on us a couple of times. So those are a couple items that we wanted to put on a priority. But I'll explain that a little more through the presentation. As we went through the initial layout of the capacity study, I really went and challenged the design team to make sure that we were not building anything in excess, adding, creating spaces that were probably not needed. Just like at the gate lounges, typically IATA standards are about 70, 60% on the low end. So looking at the capacity there, depending on what type of aircraft that we usually get there at the terminal, these spaces were laid out. And then the concession program, you know, we didn't want to overdo concession program in that new concourse. Wanted to make sure that what we did was appropriate for what expansion we're going to be doing. So total of 10 gates. And so we went through looking at some opportunities, took a pencil to the layout and marked it up and sent that over to the consultants and, you know, made them take a look at what we were looking at. Some of the spaces seemed excessive. Some concessions spaces, we didn't want to be building something and have empty spots that were there. And so bringing in a couple of concession programs for food and beverage and for retail makes sense on two ends of the concourse, but not too many. And so what we did was we went through and were able to make some changes to be able to reduce that concourse and remove about 10,000 or so square feet. That helped look at and reduce some of the spaces that we thought were excessive. Some of the opportunities that we looked at was freeing up the gate, Gate lounge there for bridge number one, which currently is a shared bridge. And I know we've talked about with replacements of bridges one and three, decoupling that, because right now it's an operational challenge where we cannot operate the two gates at the same time. So this would be a natural decoupling through the terminal expansion program. And then some MEP space for that concourse. And so if you look at the layout right now from where it was on the study on the right is we've reduced it to what's on the left. Also, some of the spaces on the capacity study, there was on the east and west sides of the terminal, the pre-security sides, it was proposed to be able to expand to the west. We challenged that, too, with the number of ticket counters and positions that we'd be gaining, and then adding shell space. So we challenged them to look at building to the inside instead of pushing out let me get there something similar to this so instead of building additional shell to add x amount of ticket counter positions we thought instead of we can probably save some money instead of building more shell and building to the inside because that lobby area is pretty excessive um so that is just one bay right there So we can get a total of about 31. Currently, we have about 25 ticket positions. There's the queuing space for what would be the future checkpoint. Floated another idea about doubling it so we could get to the full 36 This one the queuing tends to bleed too far back into the lobby space So this is kind of a Knicks. I just wanted to show it to you all as well to make sure that we Went through these exercises So right now, you know, we're leaning towards that one, expanding the one bay, the one in the center, to where we can still add ticket counter space and then also utilize the queuing area there without going too far back into the lobby area.

But this still calls for the expansion to the west, right? Or no? Well, if you go back...

Well, that's what was in the study. So there's still opportunities that we can do to build to the inside to save some costs. So I was just looking at ways to make what we would or if we would construct something that we'd make it as efficient as possible and not waste any of the space inside the terminal. Okay. Future checkpoint right now is three lanes. As we develop that, the lobby area would turn into the checkpoint, going to about five different lanes where you would have capacity for future lanes. So if you see the queuing area, which is pretty tight there, at times we've had, when we did have two lanes and we didn't have the three lanes just yet, we'd have queuing that would circulate back sometimes up towards the, and sneak back around towards the west side of the building. Excuse me. So with that, you can see the capacity for the queuing for the checkpoint for those five lanes, which would help us for the additional capacity at the checkpoint. We did go through the exercise of the check baggage system. Once you leave your bags where it goes through screening with TSA, there were the A proposal was to add up to five CT 80s, which is the bomb detecting equipment that we have downstairs. I challenged that as well with the consultant team. We went and consulted with TSA and we're able to relook at that and the three CT 80s, the bomb detection equipment and the conveyor system that we have currently would suffice. It is close to its useful life, and we have looked at some replacement of that equipment, but we intend to replace it with this project in phases. So on the plan reduction, it was about 10,000 square feet that we were able to reduce. We do include restrooms, pre-security, a couple of pre-security restrooms that would be up towards the north side of the building, one by the ticket counters and one by the baggage claim. And then there's a couple of the existing restrooms that are in place, post security and some additional restrooms in the new concourse. The new concourse is a rendering of it. What it could look like, obviously, the space for the concourse hall and then the gate spaces off to the left.

And this is all the new one, right?

Yes, sir. So the central expansion, which is the quote unquote wow factor that we wanted to include. This was some of the results from the terminal capacity study. This was, you know, a. A STATEMENT THAT WAS FORMED DURING THE STAKEHOLDER MEETINGS WITH THE COMMISSION, WITH OUR AIRPORT ADVISORY BOARD, WITH THE EDC, WITH THE CHAMBER. AND SO WE WORKED THROUGH SEVERAL OVER THE YEAR TO PUT THIS TOGETHER AND THOSE MOOD BOARDS THAT ARE THERE. And so the existing building right now has the entry doors can barely see them. It's small windows for not a lot of light and the towers, the focal point for the current terminal. The one of the options that was put together for this wow factor. You know, as the airport represents a gateway to the community, It's intending to form a civic gathering space. The building honors the cultural importance of family and community coming together. The building physically opens itself toward the community with large windows and expansive glazing. The roof, as you can see, there forms a focal point while also providing important sun and rain protection at the curbside. The weathering steel recalls McAllen's industrial roots while being contemporary and refined to represent the future direction of the McAllen community. And so that's a rendering of what that wow factor could look like. Essentially, you can see the section up on the top right-hand corner. It removes that tower, per se, and revamps the facade of the building. Provided another option as well. This one scaled back, although it does remove the tower. It's kind of in the middle between option three and option one, where it does open it up and raise the roof to have a different interior, more inviting, more spacious. But it doesn't have the same amount of wow that the option one has. And you can see in that section diagram, the tower section is removed and the roof above that lobby area slash checkpoint area, future checkpoint area would be raised. And this is kind of the non-wow factor, per se. Keeps the integrity of the existing building and does not do a whole lot other than you see the space on the north side of the building there on the front end get pushed out where we'd have the opportunities for additional restrooms and different areas for the lobby areas.

Can you get the first one again?

Adam is nice. Number one. Option one is very nice. It's only mining.

A lot more air conditioning, but real nice.

No, not really.

Well, you've got to check the weather. You know, the winds, hurricanes.

That's where the structural engineer comes in.

Let me get to some of the views. So this is the existing terminal lobby. As you can see, there's a lot of space in the lobby area. You know, sometimes when it's really busy, we'll see it about 70% full. But it is a lot of space. Again, this building was designed in the late 80s, early 90s, built in the 90s. So, you know, different rules, different time, how airports operated. The option one here, as you can see from the interior, looking down the hall towards the ticket counters, this is a central common space where we saw that north side pushed out. But you see the ceiling and the height of the ceiling and how much it opens up the area, thus the wow factor. Cool. The option two, you can see where it still gets raised, but on the forefront, you see it a lot lower. So that area there in the front that gets pushed out does not have that increased volume or that height of the ceiling. And then the option three was the pretty much not doing anything, not doing much on the facade part or the wall factor. This does still increase the capacity and open up. You can see the checkpoint or the future checkpoint out in the background. This is another view of the existing terminal, which wouldn't change very much with that option three. Different view for the option one. You can see the pre-security retail slash food and beverage offering. The little coffee shop would be moved up to that space there because of the addition of the restrooms that we'd be adding to either side of the entrances. This is the option two. You can see that lower ceiling there to the right, which is the north side of the building where we'd be pushing out to the north. There's the option three, which is the Do nothing so you can kind of see the comparisons there on the three options Option one does really change and really does present a wow factor to that first point of connection from our out-of-towners So they you know, they will see this this represent their initial visit to McAllen and The second one is not too much of a wow factor, but it does change the facade. And then the third one is really not a wow factor. And so we kind of looked at also, you know, what are the priorities of priorities? Adding capacity was the big one. We have very little room for error right now. A jet bridge goes down. I mean, we have six. We have two that operate on the same. You know, we've had we've had challenges dealing with this existing facility. and the use that it gets over the years. And so if you recall, the last expansion, which was cut short and only added one gate and added about 50,000 square feet that was completed in 2015, really helped us to get through a few years, and now we're outgrowing what we expanded on in 15. So this expansion right here will really help us to add the capacity that we need. The apron, as you can see to the left, would be the tarmac, per se, that would be added to the terminal. In the purple would be the spaces that we would be adding. I think we're just looking at a priority just to kind of say, okay, well, if we need to phase this, which you recall in the design contract, we kind of looked at a phased approach. So we kind of looked at, okay, well, we need to add capacity. We know that. Okay, so here are the spaces that we really need. which you can see the central terminal space up at the top, which is the restrooms and the relocated meeting, gathering area, pre-security. Up to the right on the top is some additional space at the baggage claim area and then the new concourse. on the lower level, the supporting space to help the concourse for MEP, for storage, central utilities for that concourse, and also then expansion of the mechanical room, which is There's no more room to put any equipment in our existing mechanical room on the east side. So that expansion to the east would expand on that utility room. And things that we could wait on if we were to do a second phase, or we were to prioritize those improvements that would add the capacity, the restrooms, the gate space, the apron space to accommodate the aircraft. Some of the spaces we could wait on are probably switching the office expansion and the TSA offices that are there and the ticketing expansion if we were to move to the interior instead of building out to the west. We could opt to do that at a later time. The federal inspection station downstairs, renovating all of that space can take a backseat just because of the fact that we're not very high on the international. But there are some opportunities there to correct the space to help operational inefficiencies that we have as we coordinated with CBP during some of this plan. And we got parking challenges also. Any questions on the terminal updates?

We're still looking at 90%, 10%.

For the federal funds that are issued to us by FAA that are used for the terminal, yes. Yes.

But the WOW factor is not going to be financed by... That's correct.

That's correct. The WOW factor is something that is not an eligible expense.

Sorry, we need to get those numbers.

In terms of total square footage, it seems like it's 10,000 square feet. We're trying to save and then maybe a little bit more.

It's about 10,000 square feet that we reduced during the plan. But overall, it's still about 114,000 square feet total. That priority phase would be about 80,000 square feet in addition to the 155 that we currently have.

Okay. Maybe I'm inappropriately making an apples and oranges comparison, but if you put that $10,000 that we saved, can you put that in a dollar? The 10,000 square feet? Yeah, put that in a dollar amount that we're saving. How much?

I don't have that with me.

Okay, that's what I'm trying to equate in my mind in terms of the overall budget. Because if it's going to be like... half a million dollars, then why are we even bothering? This is a $170 million project. It'll be in the millions. Everything's... Well, that's... I don't make an assumption.

I want to... Well, you know contractors, right? Yes. When you pull it back, they're not going to give you a big savings. Right. But when you add something, it costs a whole lot more. Yeah. But I don't have those numbers right now. We're working through all of that as we continue to refine the spaces. Yeah.

If the private sector were building it, I'd tell you what it was.

Any more questions on the terminal? The parking I did want to bring up. Right now, the three lots that we have, the short-term lot, you have about 231 stalls, 820 in long-term, and then the employee slash overflow east lot is about 318 stalls. We have a total of over 1,300 stalls. With the new parking lots that are getting built Thank you for taking that action that will add about 17% capacity totaling about 16 10 16 over 1600 total parking stalls adding 44 to that cell phone lot that's there adjacent to the terminal in front of the taxi cab stand and the new lot that would be across the street is about 197 public stalls yes sir that's on the east side of the wing gate i mean the west side right that was our property or yes sir yes sir um we've included a bus stop there for transit to see if if we can get that on the route as well uh to help help uh get people in and out of of that parking lot walking from there to here even in the summer is Well, actually, we measured on the economy lot to the closest entrance to the terminal and from that lot into the closest entrance to the terminal, and they're about the same, 1,400 feet. Really not a big deal.

If you land in Austin and you want to get to the Uber, you're walking the same distance. That's a long way.

But I think probably Austin's probably covered. But it is covered. I'll give you that. It is covered.

There's one thing that is not depicted in terms of what you proposed. Yes, sir. Were you going to work simultaneously with moving the FIS to the other side of the airfield and where international aircraft are landing? Because that's not being depicted in any of this.

Yes. Right now, the plan is for that GAFIS to be relocated to the expansion on 10th Street. Yes, sir.

But that's not part of any of this, right?

No, it's a separate project.

How soon? I mean, I imagine we're going to try to dovetail both projects, right?

Yeah, the reason is we can provide temporary facilities and work with them to work out of a job trailer. IN FACT, THE LAST SPACE THAT WE HAVE ON THE SOUTH PART OF THE GA RAMP, THERE'S A SPACE THERE TO USE IF WE NEED TO ON A TEMPORARY BASIS AS WE GET THOSE PROJECTS IN LINE.

I RECOMMEND ANY FURTHER DISCUSSION ON THAT TOPIC BE CONDUCTED IN EXECUTIVE SESSION.

Any other questions? I have a question on the parking. Are we talking on parking or still on the terminal?

Either one.

So one of the things in the materials, which I thought was a great overview that you provided, especially when we get into some of the revenues that were coming in, I didn't see any conversation or discussion about the rental car facility and whether there's an opportunity maybe to utilize that space or to think about pushing them out and bringing in closer for our own people that are using the airport and kind of flip-flopping that. Yeah.

We'll address that with you during the executive session today.

Okay.

I have some other points on that question, but happy to wait.

Excellent. Any other questions? Oh, we're going to be fine. We're going to be fine.

Okay. So pretty much, real quick, so pretty much we added a little more than 220, 230 spaces? Yes, sir.

Perfect.

Yeah. Much needed. It's always good. Which is a good sign. I'm sorry? It's always packed. Yes, sir. That's the right problem. Absolutely.

Now, just one thing I want to add. This is more for public consumption. What we're doing in terms of adding more parking space, whether it be the overflow lot on the north side next to the wind gate or whatever it's called now, Best Western, this is still a lot less expensive than building a parking garage, right?

Yes. In fact, I think we were looking at $4,000 of surface space versus like $14,000 to $17,000 for a parking garage. Yes, sir.

I remember that you probably remember the conversation about a year ago.

That's a topic that I always get.

Not all the time, but time to time. Why don't we build a parking garage? And I think the public, our citizens, our users across the valley that use our airport, they'd be aware that as much as we like to, per space, it's very, very expensive. Expensive and almost cost prohibitive.

Okay. No public comments?

Mayor, I recommend we recess to executive session. We have a couple of items we can take care of real quick while staff breaks down that we can come back to the meeting. We'll recess into executive session. We're going to take care of everything.

Do we have here a presentation?

Okay, so... You're going to say something, and then I'll try to say something.

Yeah, if you want to just kind of say something, then I'll get up and...

We all go down there.

Yes, you. That's better.

Have we recessed the workshop?

No. As soon as JB says we can. JB, are you ready?

Okay, and this is the end of the workshop, so we'll recess the workshop. We did.

This concludes the workshop of the McAllen City Commission. Workshops are held on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 4 p.m. in the City Commission Chamber, located on the third floor of McAllen City Hall. The public is always welcome to attend or view online. Thank you for staying informed and engaged with the City of McAllen.