A new QuikTrip gas station and convenience store could be built on US 380 after McKinney City Council members approved a specific use permit.

What happened: Council members approved the permit request during an Aug. 4 meeting. The gas station will be located at 1601 W. University Drive, according to a staff presentation.

More details: A preliminary site plan attached to the agenda shows plans for a 6,445-square-foot convenience store and seven fuel pumps. The property is currently zoned for commercial uses and holds a vacant pharmacy building, McKinney Planning Director Lucas Raley said.

“The requirement for a SUP is due to the specific use,” Raley said. “The nearest single-family neighborhood is more than 475 feet away and it’s separated by commercial uses. We find the use compatible with the surrounding development and anticipate no adverse impacts.”

Pie Tap Founder and CEO Rich Hicks said the kind of pizza he ate with his young children made him feel lethargic, and if he knew if he ever started a pizza restaurant he wanted to do things differently.

“I wanted it to be uniquely differentiated, and we would be selling that Italian-style, artisan dough to Dallas,” Hicks said.

Hicks opened the first Pie Tap location in the design district at 1212 Oak Lawn Ave., Dallas, serving pizza with dough made from a 300-year old sourdough starter. Ten years and six additional locations later, Pie Tap is still using its original dough recipe, Hicks said.

On the menu: Pie Tap’s menu includes pizza, pasta, sandwiches, salads and more. Hicks said he wanted to keep the food “really clean” and use simple, high-quality ingredients.

Popular menu items include:

• Prosciutto pizza, which is made with prosciutto, medjool dates, date sauce, pistachios, arugula, house ricotta, parmesan and balsamic
• Hot pepperoni pizza, which features pepperoni, bacon, organic marinara sauce, fresh mozzarella, jalapeños and hot honey

The Dallas Fort Worth International Airport board of directors approved the purchase of the Hyatt Regency DFW Hotel during the Aug. 6 meeting.

The transaction, approved by the Public Facility Improvement Corp. on July 29, is for an amount not to exceed $193.65 million from Woodlake HRDFW Hotel Owners, LLC for the property at 2334 N. International Parkway.

The details: The Public Facility Improvement Corp., or PFIC, will assume the lease between the hotel and the DFW Airport Board. The final approval will need to be approved by the owner cities, Fort Worth and Dallas, according to documents.

The 40-year lease on the facility had an initial term that started Oct. 23, 1986, with two 20-year extensions and a 19-year extension that follows.

Zooming in: This would be the fourth hotel operated by the PFIC at DFW Airport. According to documents, the group also operates and manages The Grand Hyatt Hotel, the Hyatt Place Hotel and the Hyatt House Hotel, which is scheduled to open in 2027.

Collin College’s proposed bond package could fund several expansion projects, including two new campuses.

Collin County voters will be able to decide on the school's $600 million bond package in November after Collin College's Board of Trustees called a bond election during its Aug. 7 meeting.

What you need to know: Approval of the bond package would authorize $600 million in funding for expansion projects that include two new campuses in Anna and Royse City, along with a new Aviation Academy in McKinney.

Quote of note: “The Board of Trustees has always believed in planning for the future while honoring the commitments we’ve made to our community,” board Chair Jay Saad said in a news release.

The Second Annual North Texas Bookstore Crawl kicked off Aug. 1, featuring 33 locations across North Texas, while Costco set an opening date for its upcoming Celina store. Check out six trending stories from Community Impact’s Dallas-Fort Worth coverage areas.

1. North Texas Bookstore Crawl returns for second year featuring 33 locations
2. Costco sets opening date for upcoming location in Celina
3. 39-acre development moves forward after Prosper residents weigh in
4. Shady’s Burgers & Brewhaha offers burgers, more in Frisco
5. Arches installed over Richardson’s US 75 DART bridge, lighting additions underway
6. Denton ISD gives out more than 500 Gold Cards in first 2 days

Within the next year, Texans will likely see changes to when they can vote early in elections, including expanded weekend voting hours.

The overview: Last year, state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 2753, which shifts Texas’ early voting window closer to election day, cutting out a three-day gap between the two voting periods and adding more Saturday and Sunday voting.

While the changes did not take effect immediately and were designed to help boost voter turnout, local election administrators said the law will also significantly raise costs for municipalities and delay the release of election results.

Election officials said the current three-day break allows staff to set up polling places for election day and prepare submitted ballots so results from early and mail-in voting can be released quickly after the polls close on election night.

The impact: Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth estimated that the shift would raise the cost of administering a large election by 30% and increase costs for smaller elections by 9%, due to personnel, equipment and voter education needs.