The time is nearing for Frisco voters to decide whether they think alcohol sales should be extended until 2 a.m. in local establishments.

On Nov. 4 voters will decide whether to allow the Frisco City Council to again consider instituting a late-night ordinance.

The election has come down to basic issues from voters for and against late-night alcohol sales:

• Will late-night hours draw more businesses to Frisco, help existing businesses, add to the tax base and give residents the option to stay out in Frisco later?


• Will late-night hours cause an increase in drunken-driving incidents and detract from Frisco's family atmosphere?

Few hard facts are available to substantiate claims either in support of or against late-night alcohol sales.

The only concrete number available is that Frisco has nearly 40,000 more residents than it had in 2008, the last time the issue was voted on, which leads to another question: Will Frisco voters go to the polls?

In the 2008 election, 7,016 voters participated. The population was about 104,000.

"Nothing has changed in six years of time other than the population change and it being on a November ballot instead of a May ballot," said Jo Hooper, the spokeswoman for the political action committee formed to lobby against late-night hours in 2008. "It will be interesting to see how people have changed in that time."

Economics

Of the cities surrounding Frisco, those that allow late-night hours are Plano, Allen, Richardson, Lewisville and Carrollton.

The city of McKinney is the only exception. McKinney does not allow late-night alcohol sales, and such an ordinance has not been discussed in recent years, McKinney Media Manager Anna Clark said.

Kevin Payne, Greater Dallas Restaurant Association executive director, confirmed there are no economic statistics available but said the positive economic impact of late-night hours is clear and hours do matter to restaurants, hotels and bars that have their choice of cities in which to operate.

He said businesses that choose Frisco have an opportunity cost—meaning they give up the option of late-night hours to be located in the city.

He said six years ago when the late-night hours were discussed, the level of development in the city and the age demographics were very different. Now the city has major developments in progress, including the Dallas Cowboys headquarters project and Wade Park.

"[Late-night hours are] a trade-off when looking at future developments," Payne said. "It's a choice every city has to make."

He said if Frisco is interested in making a statement to developers, late-night hours are worth considering for voters.

Chris Moss, spokesperson for Frisco

2 a.m. PAC, the political action committee formed to advocate for late-night hours, said late-night hours would benefit the city by increasing existing business revenue and interest from new businesses as well as providing more options for Frisco residents.

"We know from talking to the Frisco Economic Development Corp. that business owners have selected other cities because of the late-night hours, that businesses have declined to come to Frisco because of that reason," he said.

Others, including David Prince, a, former Councilman and current EDC member, said the same economic argument—that Frisco needs late-night hours to stay competitive to attract developments—was made six years ago. Considering Frisco's growth since 2008 without 2 a.m. hours in place, that argument is false, he said.

Drunken driving concerns

Prince said the city might get a few more tax dollars out of late-night hours, but those dollars are not worth the trade-off, which he said he thinks will be more drunken drivers on the road, leading to a need for more officers to police for drunken driving.

Joaquin Blanco, North Texas executive director and CEO for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said the organization has no official position in support of or against late-night hours. He said research does not show that late-night alcohol sales increase drunken-driving incidents. Rather, he said, the same number of crashes are simply spread out over a longer period of time.

"It is not so much the timing of drinking but rather the choice of driving while under the influence of drugs and alcohol," Blanco said. "We have a very strong position on making sure the laws are enforced to make sure that people [who] are drinking are drinking responsibly."

Prince said residents near existing and future retail developments will have to deal with any repercussions from late-night hours and that lengthened hours do not fit with the type of community Frisco is.

Plano's late-night experiment

The Plano City Council instituted late-night alcohol sales in July 2005.

David Tilley, Plano Police Department public information officer, said there are two main bar districts in Plano—The Shops at Legacy and Plano's old downtown area.

Judging by arrest figures before and after late-night hours were instituted, he said no direct correlation can be drawn between late-night hours and drinking and driving.

Tilley said the city did, however, develop a program to combat drunken driving after officials noticed an uptick in drunken driving fatalities in 2012.

At that point, the city instituted a year-round "no refusal" policy and increased drunken-driving policing efforts.

The city began using funds generated by its red-light camera program to pay for extra officers on the weekends to patrol for possible drunken drivers as well as an on-call judge and on-call phlebotomist that allows drunken driving suspects to have their blood alcohol level tested soon after being pulled over by an officer.