Frisco council pledges $500,000 engagement fund, schedules October talks as downtown business owners plead for relief

Frisco City Council heard more than an hour of testimony from downtown Main Street merchants on Sept. 16 as business owners described steep revenue declines tied to the rail-district redevelopment and asked for expedited financial relief.

Owners representing restaurants, retail and service businesses said the construction has made customer access difficult and produced lasting cash-flow and staffing problems. Lee Gonzales, owner of La Finca Coffee and Bakery, told the council that his downtown investment predates much of Frisco’s recent growth and that ‘‘the construction project … has been a death sentence’’ for some businesses who already endured pandemic-era and supply-chain shocks. Randy Burks said his restaurant was down about 60%, putting more than 40 employees at risk.

Taylor Rottery, who manages a music store on Main Street, said the city’s gift-card and promotional programs have been helpful but are inadequate to replace lost sales. ‘‘How do we dig ourselves out of this hole that’s been created?’’ Rottery asked. Rich Vonna, owner of Heritage Table, and Britney Kolberg, a long-time downtown resident and advisory-board member, urged an immediate, targeted aid package modeled on the city’s earlier COVID-era relief.

Council acknowledged the depth of the businesses’ distress. The mayor said council had authorized the city manager to discuss a proposal with the Community Development Corporation (CDC) to allocate $500,000 to support public discussion and merchant participation; staff indicated an outreach meeting roughly planned for Oct. 7 and invited downtown business owners to join follow-up budget discussions in October. Council also promised to include business input in deciding how any funds would be allocated.

Council did not adopt a specific grant or program during the Sept. 16 meeting. Several public speakers urged a larger figure than $500,000, with one commenter suggesting the needed assistance could be ‘‘$2,000,000 or $5,000,000’’ depending on a later assessment. Council members asked staff and community stakeholders to develop figures and options for the next meetings.

The next formal steps announced on the record were: (1) a planned public outreach meeting in early October (staff indicated Oct. 7 as a target) for downtown merchants to help shape use of the CDC allocation, and (2) continued council discussion during October agenda meetings. The council encouraged organizers of the Save Main (transcript: various spellings) effort to participate in those planning sessions.

Quotes in this article are taken from public comments and council remarks recorded in the Sept. 16 meeting transcript. The council did not commit to a specific relief program amount beyond the $500,000 allocation for public engagement and discussion.