Even before the final city council vote to approve the project, survey teams are plotting the land in Roanoke for the newest Hawaiian Falls in North Texas.
"Our goal is to get them in here and get them generating tax dollars for our city," said Roanoke Mayor "Scooter" Gierisch.
City leaders are courting Hawaiian Falls to open a water park there by Memorial Day of next year, similar to those the company already runs in Garland, Mansfield and The Colony.
"We're beginning to become a destination point for our restaurants and so forth," said Gierisch. "We need to start determining other things that we need to have here in the city of Roanoke that's gonna help bring other folks into the community."
The water park would be built on 16 acres of city-owned park land along Byron Nelson Boulevard and Fairway Drive, next to the city's new fire station.
"The dollars that Hawaiian Falls generates and the amount of folks that would be a draw to this particular area would be something that would be beneficial to our area," said Gierisch.
But many neighbors who live on the other side of Byron Nelson are opposed.
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"The traffic is a big concern, plus the eyesore," said Chip Rushing. "It's gonna be right out my front door here. And again, property values probably go down."
Mayor Gierisch disagrees.
"The traffic issue, it's going to add maybe four to five percent additional traffic to our area, which is not a significant amount."
The Roanoke City Council held a public hearing last month, which more than 100 people attended. The final council vote on the $11 million dollar project could come before the end of the month.
"I just don't think we're gonna be able to fight this thing," said Rushing. "They've already made up their minds what they're going to do before we got there."
