Biking Tower in Frisco

Frisco Parks and Recreation Director Shannon Coates presented a biking tower concept for Frisco’s Northwest Community Park according to a Community Impact article from October 19. They say, 

A park directly south of the upcoming PGA Frisco headquarters could soon feature several new fixtures for cyclists, among them being a roughly 40-foot-tall “gravity riding” tower.

Renderings of the conceptual tower were shown depicting a roughly 100-foot tower, but Coates said the intent is to build a smaller tower. The renderings, she said, are meant to “give the impact” of the original idea for the tower. A total of $2.43 million was given as an estimated cost for a 100-foot gravity tower, but presenters said the cost would scale down with a smaller tower.

The tower would allow cyclists to scale it at various heights and build enough speed to feed into “gravity trails,” according to Coates. In total, the park is planned to have 9.5 miles of trails.

Some people however, felt disappointed with the proposed tower as they considered it too costly. In a Facebook post, one commented, 

“Really? Not with taxpayer money.”

Another said,

“What a waste of millions…maybe they can use the pedals.

One woman argued that there should instead be animal shelters,

“So we have 2.43 million to build a tower that looks fallic but we don’t have any money for an animal shelter.”

However, in a different Facebook post by Frisco Talk, one defended the plan as it was actually beneficial to the community. He said, 

“For those balking at the idea of this kind of money being spent on a bike park, go look up the town of Bentonville, Arkansas which has an entire system of mountain bike trails and has an entire tourism industry just for mountain bikers. I’m not suggesting this would/could be the same but don’t write off the possibility of a great benefit. For a more local example, check out Northshore park in Flower Mound. This could be a huge asset, not just for cyclists but for trail walkers/runners. Any city that is bike friendly is better for it. I really hope this comes to fruition.”

The proposed biking tower is still under review since the plan involved $2.4 million and there were a lot of parks that still needed to be maintained. Such maintenance amounted to $25 million yearly. However, the council assured that a final plan will be laid out early in 2022. 

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