Council approves specific-use permit for 250‑student Primrose childcare, adds sound study to file

Frisco City Council approved a specific‑use permit (SUP) for a licensed childcare center proposed at a site about 520 feet east of Coit Road and north of Westwood Boulevard and directed staff to include the applicant’s sound study as an exhibit to the ordinance.

The council voted 6‑0 on a motion by Councilmember Bill, seconded by Councilmember Tammy, to approve item 26 and attach the sound study. Planning staff had recommended denial because the proposed outdoor play areas are adjacent to single‑family homes, but the Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval after review of an updated noise analysis and community outreach.

Jonathan Hubbard, Assistant Director of Development Services, told council the applicant proposes a roughly 15,000‑square‑foot facility with a maximum enrollment of 250 students and that the zoning ordinance requires 65 square feet of outdoor play area per student. Staff’s recommendation to deny was driven by the location of those outdoor play areas relative to nearby single‑family lots and by a longstanding policy—carried from the 2015 comprehensive plan into the 2040 comprehensive plan—encouraging play areas to be sited away from residences. Staff said it had attempted to negotiate a site redesign with the applicant but that the applicant declined to reconfigure the building to place the structure between residences and the play areas.

Representatives for the applicant — including Bill Dahlstrom and Mike Lisi of Kraus Architects — presented an on‑site sound study showing predicted decibel levels and argued that required screening (an 8‑foot masonry wall between commercial and single‑family zones) plus the property’s landscape buffer would keep sound at levels comparable to current conditions. The team said actual separations from the playground to the neighboring lot lines range roughly from 50 to more than 100 feet and noted that the applicant held multiple HOA meetings and provided eight project input forms in support. A neighbor who spoke, Anoop Kadodia, said nearby residents support the project.

Council members who spoke noted the difference between this site and earlier problem cases in which playgrounds sat immediately adjacent to homes. Several said the updated sound study and the additional horizontal separation made this application distinguishable from earlier complaints. Councilmember Bill moved to approve with the sound study attached; Councilmember Tammy seconded and the motion passed 6‑0.

Votes at a glance - Consent agenda items 12–25: Motion to approve (motion by Councilmember Bill; second by Councilmember Tammy). Vote: 6‑0 in favor. - Item 26 (SUP for licensed childcare center, SUP24‑8): Motion to approve with the sound study included as an exhibit to the ordinance (motion by Councilmember Bill; second by Councilmember Tammy). Vote: 6‑0 in favor.

The council’s action directs staff to prepare the ordinance consistent with the approved SUP exhibits and to include the applicant’s sound study as part of the SUP record. The ordinance will return as part of the city’s ordinance process; no additional legislative text was adopted at the meeting other than the motion to approve and the direction to prepare the ordinance.