Southlake City Council denied a zoning change request from Southlake Flex Properties LLC, for a new escape room at 545 S. Nolen Drive at its April 3 meeting. TThe building was formerly used as a church.

The facility, called Locked In Texas, would have featured a laser tag maze in addition to six to eight escape rooms. The applicant said the business would serve surrounding businesses for corporate team-building exercises, and it would also be open during evenings and weekends.

The council, however, noted a trend of heavy in-and-out traffic in this area and wanted to discourage that activity.

"I do not support this," Mayor Laura Hill said. "I do not want to see Nolen [Drive] become Exchange [Boulevard with its traffic]."

However, Council Member Chad Patton voted in favor of the escape room and laser tag facility.

"I struggle with bucking this," Patton said. "It seems kind of corporate and it's kind of closed off and it’s a quasi-school project, and I feel like we … might be splitting hairs on something that in my mind is a little benign on this issue. I guess the evening part can be challenging."

Hill mentioned the council should consider the precedent approving the facility would set for the surrounding area, which Council Member Shawn McCaskill agreed with.

"I think it just doesn't fit," he said.

The project was denied by a vote of 6-1 and will not return for a second reading.