The Mansfield City Council did an about-face Monday night and decided against spending $12 million on a proposed Dallas Stars ice rink.
While Council members initially gave the green light for an 82,000 square foot indoor hockey facility at the corner of Broad Street and Highway 287, they changed their mind following growing concerns that the Mansfield Independent School District would have to pitch in a $1.8 million investment in the project.
The facility was to have been a joint venture between the city, the district and the Dallas Stars.
The district was being asked to put down $500,000 up front, with annual payments after that for access to the facility and athletics training, even though the district doesn't have any UIL sponsored ice sports.
There are a number of club hockey teams in town.
Mayor David Cook said nixing the deal was the right decision.
“Based upon the strong opposition expressed by some of the taxpayers of the School District at the forum last week, as well as publicly available social media feedback, in my opinion it became very apparent to the City Council that although support certainly exists for the construction of an indoor ice rink in the City of Mansfield, the constituents of the Mansfield ISD are clearly opposed to the District’s financial participation in construction of a facility not to be owned by the school district," Cook said in a written statement.
He added that it appears to be "unlikely" that a compromise can be worked out to bring the proposed Dr Pepper StarCenter to Mansfield.
