Abbott says EPIC City lacks permits as Collin County probes continue

Abbott has said the proposed EPIC City development in unincorporated Collin and Hunt counties cannot move ahead without the environmental permits and state authorizations required for construction. The 402-acre master-planned community near Josephine was first described as a project that could include about 1,000 homes, a K-12 faith-based school, shops, a community college and a mosque, but state officials now say it cannot begin building without the paperwork in place.

That permitting gap matters in Collin County because the project sits in a fast-growing stretch of North Texas where roads, utilities and drainage shape whether large subdivisions can be absorbed by surrounding landowners and nearby neighborhoods. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said EPIC City could not start construction without the necessary permits, and reporting at the time noted the developers had not filed paperwork or requested permits. For residents living closest to the site, that means the question is no longer about a concept plan alone. It is whether the project can legally advance at all.

The proposal drew hours of testimony at a crowded Collin County Commissioners Court hearing on March 31, 2025, where most speakers opposed the development. County Judge Chris Hill said he could not support a project that violates Texas or federal law. The hearing placed the project in a public-review phase rather than an approved development track, with county officials treating it as an early planning effort rather than a project ready for shovels in the ground.

The dispute widened in April 2025 after the East Plano Islamic Center and Community Capital Partners hired attorney Dan Cogdell. Cogdell said the project was being subjected to racial profiling and called the backlash political theater. Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a Texas Rangers criminal investigation into EPIC and affiliated entities, and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened state investigations tied to the project. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn also urged the Department of Justice to review the matter on religious-discrimination grounds.

The federal review ended in June 2025, when the Justice Department closed its civil-rights investigation and said it found no civil-rights violations. The local land-use fight, however, has not disappeared: EPIC City still faces the basic regulatory hurdle of permits before any construction can begin in Collin County.