Staff Writer
IRVING — The Irving City Council early Friday morning obliged an abrupt request from Las Vegas Sand Corp. the day before, passing a version of a proposed zoning ordinance that stripped out permissions for gambling for the casino giant’s proposed “destination resort” near the former Texas Stadium site.
The votes bookend a public process that kicked off in mid-January, though the Sands Corp. plans did not garner much of the public’s attention until late February when the zoning proposal went before the City Council.
More than 170 people signed up to speak before the early Friday vote, with every speaker either criticizing Sands Corp.’s proposal or voicing opposition to it or the approval process. The tenor of their remarks differed from those earlier in the week — many viewed the company’s decision to withdraw the gambling and nightclub elements from the zoning proposal during a Thursday afternoon work session as a victory, though concerns remained that those parts could return later.
The future of the resort proposal remained uncertain. During the work session hours before the vote, Mark Boekenheide, the Sands Corp. executive who oversees the company’s global real estate footprint, did not say the company was abandoning the project but emphasized that casino gaming was essential to move that plan forward.
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“I cannot commit to building a four million square foot project and spend four billion dollars — the economics will not work without a casino piece,” Boekenheide told City Council members during the work session, adding the Sands Corp. may consider building hotels without the zoning amendment or the legalization of gambling.
Boekenheide said Sand Corp.’s pivot was partly due to the concerns raised by speakers during a heated Monday planning and zoning meeting. That meeting’s public comment period began in the afternoon and ran into early Tuesday morning, culminating in a narrow 5-4 vote to recommend that the City Council approve the amendment with the gaming portion included.
Another factor, he explained, was the uncertainty of when or if gambling would be legalized in Texas. The Texas Legislature would need to vote to send a constitutional amendment to voters state-wide for consideration.
The amended zoning proposals with no gambling portion passed in two separate 6-3 votes.
Irving council member Luis Canosa, who represents District 4, twice made a motion to include a ban on gaming in the zoning amendment but did not receive a second to trigger a vote of the entire council.
Billionaire Miriam Adelson, whose family owns Las Vegas Sands casinos and bought a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks in 2023, has poured millions into political donations in a push to legalize gambling in Texas — something that may face tall odds during the current legislative session.
Boekenheide’s presentation before City Council members largely echoed what he showed planning and zoning commissioners Monday, but he took time at the end to respond to concerns raised and allegations made against the company.
“We heard concern and we heard fear. What we didn’t hear was any acknowledgment or realization of what I just showed you as an opportunity for Irving,” Boekenheide said before pointing to the company’s charitable work and accolades for energy efficiency, among other things. “We heard this company, Las Vegas Sands, and myself branded as bad people and liars.”
During the public comment session Monday, most speakers critiqued Sands Corp.’s plans, citing a range of concerns regarding public safety and gambling addiction. Some framed their opposition in religious terms and argued gambling would undermine the city’s family-friendly character. An official with University of Dallas, which would neighbor to the resort, was among those to voice concerns about the plans.
A handful of speakers supported the zoning change, but those who did highlighted the potential economic benefits of the Sands Corp. proposal. Boekenheide had said the project is projected to generate as many as 9,000 full-time and well-paying jobs. The investment, he added, could total as much as $4 billion, possibly netting millions in tax revenues for Irving.
Boekenheide’s request for the City Council members to amend and approve a version of the zoning amendment without the gaming portion drew perhaps the sharpest response from the city’s District 8 City Council member, Dennis Webb.
“I am sad that people keep wanting to come to Irving wanting to do something for us, and we keep losing all of these opportunities to get some great amenities for our citizens who constantly tell me ‘there is nothing in Irving to do,” Webb said, adding how the city lacks a venue large enough to host school graduations.
He added: “The citizens of Irving need to find out what they want for their city, but they have to be willing to work with people, and you just can not ask developers to come to the city of Irving and do it all your way.”
No Sands Corp. representatives spoke at Thursday afternoon’s City Council meeting. Instead, an assistant city manager relayed their earlier request to remove the gambling elements from the proposal to attendees.
Chase Rogers is a breaking news reporter at The Dallas Morning News. He grew up in Granbury, just outside the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and studied journalism at Texas State University in San Marcos. Before joining The News, he reported for the Austin American-Statesman and the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. He can be reached at 361-239-6527.
