Frisco City Council Approves Universal Studios Zoning Permit to Continue Construction

The theme park and 300-room hotel will be built on a 97-acre site near the Dallas North toll road.

FRISCO, Texas. The Frisco City Council and the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission approved a zoning permit for the new Universal Studios theme park, allowing the park’s builders to begin construction.

A deal between Universal and the city will likely include economic stimulus, Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney said. Dallas Business Magazine in an interview after the announcement of the project.

Prior to this, the vote on the park’s zoning permit had been postponed twice.

The project has met with some backlash from city residents wary of increased traffic due to the project, which includes a theme park and 300-room hotel on a 97-acre parcel of land near the Dallas Northern Tollway and Panther Creek Boulevard.

At 9:57 p.m. Tuesday, the city council voted to approve the permit. Four council members voted in favour, one voted against and one abstained.

“I feel embarrassed for you, and I am ashamed of the city of Frisco because of how this project, which was shoved down our throats, was completely shoved down our throats,” one resident said at the meeting.

City officials say Universal’s estimated traffic is 20% of what it predicts for the site. The city also says it’s the equivalent of having Costco.

The project was subject to a traffic impact analysis, TIA. The report showed that the Universal theme park would have four times less traffic compared to a mixed-use complex. According to the traffic report, 7,600 daily trips are forecast for the universal project, compared to 28,000 daily trips forecast for the mixed-use development at this location.

However, the number of daily rides scheduled for Saturday at the amusement park is 14,880 and the mixed-use complex has 12,648 daily rides.

“It’s not NIMBYS, it’s DRMYS, Don’t Ruin My Backyard,” said a spokesman for the Planning and Zoning Committee.

By 2025, construction work is still planned to expand the Dallas North Tollway. This may alleviate some concerns.

The city estimates that the project will have an impact of $1.8 billion on the city. City sales and property taxes are estimated at $30 million over the first 10 years of the theme parks. Hotel taxes are estimated at $16.7 million over the first ten years.

The applicant, Universal, verbally promised the community of Cobb Hill that they would build a wall that would provide some security to the area. Cobb Hill is the closest residential development to the proposed theme park along the Dallas North Tollway and Panther Creek Boulevard.

When the park was announced, the park will be geared towards children and offer immersive family entertainment and rides featuring Universal films, officials said.

“We wanted to come to the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex because it’s one of the largest in the country and one of the fastest growing,” Paige Thompson, Universal’s president of new ventures, said during the WFAA announcement.

“And as part of that, we chose Frisco because it’s just a very dynamic, exciting city,” Thompson added. “You can see growth around you. And it does have a lot of families, and it seemed like the perfect place for us.”

The name of the park has not yet been announced.

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