News for North Texas

Frisco city council postpones vote on Universal theme park — again

A rendering of the Universal Studios park that may be coming to Frisco.
Courtesy

The vote on the zoning permit for the Universal Studios theme park in Frisco has been delayed for a month after a second postponement.

The Frisco city council and planning and zoning committee were scheduled to vote on the permit Feb. 7 but postponed it to Tuesday. They then voted to postpone the meeting a second time to March 7 — a month after when the vote was first scheduled.

Frisco residents have spoken out against the theme park at multiple public hearings, citing concerns about crime and traffic. Melinda Preston said she doesn’t want Frisco to become a tourist destination.

“I do not want my city to become a destination city,” Preston said. “Can you name one city that is a destination city that does not have high crime?”

Several of the residents who spoke in opposition of the amusement park live in the Cobb Hill neighborhood, which is close to the park’s proposed location near the Dallas North Tollway.

Steve Cone is a member of Frisco’s planning and zoning commission. He also lives in Cobb Hill. Cone said it’s important to educate Frisco’s citizens about the theme park and listen to their concerns.

“Universal is asking us to do something really big, to be the research and development city for where they’re going to try this big, bold project,” he said.

Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney said more information about the park will be available to the public during a presentation at the following city council meeting.

Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.

Caroline Love is a Report For Americacorps member for KERA News.

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Caroline Love covers Collin County for KERA and is a member of the Report for America corps. Previously, Caroline covered daily news at Houston Public Media. She has a master's degree from Northwestern University with an emphasis on investigative social justice journalism. During grad school, she reported three feature stories for KERA. She also has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Texas Christian University and interned with KERA's Think in 2019.