No casino in Irving: City approves a pared down rezoning plan after community pushback

From KERA News:

Irving won’t be getting a casino — for now.

The city council passed a pair of controversial rezoning ordinances pushed by Las Vegas Sands Corp., but only after the company removed a portion of the plan that could have paved the way for a casino-style resort.

The vote for both at the end of the almost seven-hour meeting was 6-3, with council members Abdul Khabeer, John Bloch and Luis Canosa voting against.

The Sands’ about-face comes days after another seven-hour meeting at the planning and zoning commission, during which people lined up to speak in opposition before it was sent to the full city council for approval.

On Thursday night and into Friday morning — at a meeting packed to capacity with residents critical of the Sands — city staff directed the public to an overflow auditorium after the main council chamber ran out of room.

More than 160 people signed up for public comment, which was cut from three minutes to two minutes per person.

When Assistant City Manager Philip Sanders announced before the meeting Las Vegas Sands officially scratched the casino-related portion of the plan, the standing-room only crowd clapped and cheered.

“Thank you for listening to the voices of the residents,” speaker Bernie Wright told the council. “Please continue to do so more than the voices from the people out of town that aren’t living here raising families.”

KERA News reached out to Las Vegas Sands Corp. Thursday night and will update this story with any response.

During the sometimes-raucous meeting, the crowd broke out into applause as speaker after speaker commented at the podium. After repeated instances, the crowd was told to stop or else public comment would be cut short.

“I think this is just the tip of the iceberg,” said Bryan Katchinska, who was in attendance to oppose the casino plan. “I think you’re just looking at the people who can make it out tonight.”

The change in plans is a win for a vocal contingent who showed up in droves during recent public meetings. An online petition against a casino garnered more than 5,000 signatures.

The Sands first raised the prospect of removing the casino component during a city council work session earlier Thursday. Mark Boekenheide, senior vice president of global real estate development at Las Vegas Sands, defended the proposed destination resort as a “valuable product,” while noting the community’s concerns.

“In previous meetings we’ve committed to working with the residents of this city, and I again make that commitment,” Birkenheide told members at the work session. “How that is best structured to accomplish, I would look to this group for guidance.”

Birkenheide also made a distinction between the Sands’ resorts and a typical casino. The resorts would function as modern, multi-use facilities to attract business and tourism, he said.

The city council wasn’t the only hurdle faced by Las Vegas Sands — even if passed as originally written, Texas would have to legalize gambling for a casino to operate, something the resort company has lobbied hard for in recent years.

But residents nonetheless said they were worried about the prospect of gambling in the city, with many scratching their heads as to why the company would push its proposal without certainty as to whether gambling would come to the state.

The two Irving amendments could lead to a development on 1,001 acres, including the site of the former Texas Stadium, around State Highway 183, Loop 12, and Spur 482. There are about 452 acres of buildable land on the site.

The “high-density, mixed-use development” would be a mix of corporate, retail, residential buildings, and a “destination resort.” The resort would have a 1,750-room hotel, restaurants, pools, retail stores, and a 15,000-seat arena or a 4,000-seat theater.

But it was another portion of the plan — which would include room for casino gaming — that received the strongest pushback in recent weeks from people concerned about crime, the development’s quick timeline, and its connection to the Sands.

The site would be adjacent to the University of Dallas, and members of the university community were among those in attendance — including university President Jonathan Sanford, who said while he was pro-economic development, he was against casino gaming.

“I want to be a good neighbor,” Sanford said. “But that includes protecting the students, faculty, and staff and their families at the University of Dallas.”

Las Vegas Sands first entered into an agreement to buy the land in 2022, and the purchase was finalized in 2023, months before primary Las Vegas Sands shareholder Miriam Adelson acquired a controlling stake in the Dallas Mavericks.

Patrick Dumont, governor of the Dallas Mavericks, was also recently named the next chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands.

The Sands’ attachment to the project raised additional concerns about whether Mavericks ownership would move the team from the American Airlines Center in Dallas to the new Irving location — something Birkenheide neither confirmed nor denied at Monday’s planning and zoning commission hearing.

While most in attendance hailed Thursday night’s decision as a victory, some were also skeptical as to whether the issue was truly finished — and pushed city council members to pass a gambling prohibition clause, though it ultimately never came to a vote.

“Their entire business model is casinos,” Irving resident Carolyn Sturge said. “They’re just going to come back, and they’re going to try and get approval again and again and again.”

Megan Cardona and Paul DeBenedetto contributed to this report.

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