November 10, 2026

By Mary Beth Gahan

Costco is one step closer to coming to Flower Mound after the planning and zoning commission voted unanimously Monday night to recommend approval of a master plan amendment and zoning change for Cottonwood, an 86-acre development north of Dixon Lane and east of FM 2499.

After nearly four hours of talking about parking space numbers for Costco, roadway changes to accommodate increased traffic, and landscaping to offset pavement, the discussion at the meeting turned to the forest, rather than the trees.

One resident who spoke in opposition of Cottonwood quoted the town’s mission statement, which is “to preserve our unique country atmosphere, heritage, and quality of life while cultivating a dynamic economic environment,” and said building a commercial tax base comes last after the rural feel many residents say is a draw to the town.

Commissioner Jason Hobbs said it didn’t have to be about prioritizing one or the other when evaluating a development.

“I think they're designed to conflict. These things aren't black and white. It’s not this or that. It's our job to find the middle ground,” Hobbs said.

That’s what made the Cottonwood a “tough application,” he said.

He pointed to the rendering displayed on the screen, which showed an aerial view of how the site is expected to look once its built out. There are trees along the perimeter of the property to block the view of the fuel facility and other buildings as well as an 8-acre green space in the middle. A 12-foot multipurpose trail will wrap around the development and connect to a smaller trail inside the open space.

“This is Flower Mound,” Hobbs said. “Yes, it’s commercial, but it’s Flower Mound commercial.”

The development includes fast food restaurants, Crunch Fitness, Costco and its gas station, office showroom, and light manufacturing.

Under the current master plan, half of the property is designated as commercial and industrial and the other half is office. The developer, Cottonwood Development Partners, would like the keep the commercial and industrial section as-is but change the designation of office to mostly retail. That requires a master plan amendment.

Most of the property is zoned for agricultural uses.

Despite the lengthy discussion, many of the issues that might have held it up at this meeting were hashed out between an August work session and Monday’s vote.

The developer put a two-lane roundabout at Dixon Lane and Whyburn Drive into the plans after a traffic impact analysis showed it would have a better level of service, or traffic management capability, than a signaled intersection.

The roundabout required more right-of-way that cut into the development on the southeast side and that eliminated brought the number of fast food restaurants in that block down to two.

The developer also had to work through issues with Lewisville ISD about right-of-way with the roundabout. Marcus High School’s athletic fields are adjacent to the property on the east.

“[LISD] didn’t like what was going on,” said John Paul Andrews, Costco’s director of real estate development.

The town got involved with negotiations and that’s how the project was able to be on Monday’s agenda. The road was redesigned to make sure not too much of LISD’s property was taken, said Mayor Pro Tem Adam Schiestel.

That delay could push back the opening of Costco by six months, Andrews said. Initially the company said they were forecasting to open the store by May 2028. Andrews hopes they can work with the town on the permitting side to bring it back to the original date.

Most recently, the concept plan was shifted slightly to save three of the six specimen trees the environmental conservation commission had recommended to not be cut down. There were three other specimen trees were originally slated for removal that the developer is able to save with the changes in the concept plan. They are asking to remove 27 of 77 specimen trees.

Many commissioners and residents who spoke said they were happy with the changes that had been made. That left a broader discussion about the impact the development would have on the town’s residents.

The commission received about 40 emails, commissioner Deb Fitzpatrick said, and most were in favor of Cottonwood — particularly Costco — but worried about traffic increasing.

There will be an estimated 6,000 cars coming in and out of Costco each day, resulting in 12,000 daily trips, according to Costco traffic engineer Ryan Cunningham. That number could be 20 to 25 percent higher during the holiday season.

More than half of the traffic is expected to come from FM 2499 and 16 percent to come from the east on Dixon Lane. Nearly 20 percent is forecast to come from the east on Justin Road.

Melissa Marciszko, who lives in a neighborhood behind Marcus High School, spoke at Monday’s meeting and asked if the proposed HEB was taken into account in the traffic analysis.

“I would love a Costco in Flower Mound, but I think there's a better location,” she said. “2499 is going to get worse.”

Others said this was the financial windfall that the town needs as it faces a possible voter-approved tax rate election next year.

“This town needs money,” said Flower Mound resident David Johnson. “It takes money for roads. It takes money for utilities. It takes money for our police and fire departments, and this project provides that.”

Costco estimates that the volume of sales will be comparable to its Southlake location.

Despite the unanimous decision by the commission, there was some pushback on details within the project, including the number of parking spots in the Costco lot.

The town requires one spot for every 250 square feet, which would equal 672 spaces for the wholesale membership retailer. The town allows a 20 percent deviation from that number, but the developer is asking for 898 spots, about 25 percent over.

Fitzpatrick asked if Costco would be willing to eliminate some parking spots and leave the area as green space to be paved as demand increases.

“It reduces the heat island effect that we’re going to certainly have with the additional parking,” Fitzpatrick said.

Andrews said a section of the parking lot in the northeast corner of Costco’s lot was originally designed like that but an executive vice president said it should be paved with the rest of the lot because it would be expensive to do it later.

“It’s really a cost thing,” Andrews said.

The company is “going above and beyond” on landscaping to mitigate the extra parking spaces, town planner Chuck Russell said, like including bioswales with buffalo grass, little bluestem, and switchgrass.

The master plan amendment and zoning application is expected to go before town council in early December.