Coppell Chronicle Vol. 3, No. 27

Isolated Neighborhood Stuck in Fast Lane • Local Leaders Approving New Tax Rates • Coppell’s Water Situation Remains Dire • Irving Prices Twice-a-Week Trash Collection

Isolated Neighborhood Stuck in Fast Lane

Speedy drivers have supposedly hit this sign twice in the last few months.

Merriam-Webster defines the word “haven” as a “harbor” or a “port,” as “a place of safety,” and as “a place offering favorable opportunities or conditions.” Some residents of South Haven believe their neighborhood’s name is highly ironic.

“This community is pretty strangely located,” Prasad Choppa told the Irving City Council this month.

South Haven is to Irving what Alaska is to the United States; it’s part of the city, but it’s not connected to the rest of the city. To access any other Irving neighborhoods, South Haven residents must drive on roads that are in Dallas and Coppell.

(See “Wait, That’s in Irving?” in Vol. 1, No. 17.)

Choppa spoke during the “Citizens’ Forum” portion of the council’s Aug. 3 meeting to advocate for a deceleration lane along East Belt Line Road. The speed limit on that stretch of Belt Line is 50 miles per hour, and the road curves right before it intersects with South Northlake Road, the only path in and out of South Haven. Choppa told me cars have hit the neighborhood’s monument sign twice in the last few months.

He started emailing city staffers about this problem shortly after he bought his house in December 2020. Irving employees told him to talk to Dallas, because that intersection is technically within Big D. Dallas employees told him to talk to Coppell because East Belt Line Road is part of Coppell’s thoroughfare plan.

In this map, Dallas’ territory is shaded in green. Unfortunately, the shades of pink used for Coppell and Irving are so similar they might as well be identical, but Grapevine Creek is the basic boundary. South Haven includes streets such as Canoe Drive, Otter Way, and Minnow Road. The blue pin is where Choppa would like somebody — anybody — to add a deceleration lane.

South Haven is a community of more than 800 residents in about 200 houses. The subdivision is zoned to Coppell ISD, specifically to Austin Elementary School and Coppell Middle School East. Choppa said its population includes 150 elementary students and 150 secondary students; he’s particularly worried about the latter group because it includes teenage drivers who would especially benefit from an opportunity to slow down.

Adding to his frustration, the smaller subdivision to the east (Belmont Landing) does feature a deceleration lane along Belt Line. The difference is that Belmont Landing and its portion of Belt Line are both inside Coppell’s city limits.

After Choppa’s Aug. 3 speech to the Irving City Council, City Manager Chris Hillman asked him to speak to Irving Traffic and Transportation Director Dan Vedral. When I met with Choppa a couple of Fridays ago, I asked him how that conversation went. Here’s how he summed up Vedral’s position: I’d love to help you, but I can’t add a deceleration lane to a road in another city.

When I asked Irving Communications Director April Reiling for a statement, she replied with this: “To alert and remind drivers about the intersection, City of Irving staff plans to work with the City of Coppell to install traffic signage along Belt Line Road indicating ‘Intersection Ahead’ prior to the Northlake Road at Belt Line intersection. The City of Irving is unable to provide the requested eastbound right-turn on Belt Line Road because it is not located within Irving city limits.”

When I sought to confirm that with Reiling’s Coppell counterpart, Hannah Cook, she said Coppell Director of Public Works Mike Garza advised Irving officials that they would need to discuss the signage with Dallas employees. “The City of Coppell is on board with the signage,” Cook said, “but we have no jurisdiction over the area.”

South Haven was developed by American Legend Homes and Normandy Homes. The lack of a deceleration lane is not the only problem those companies created when they plopped a neighborhood on that particular piece of property. Choppa and his neighbors have experienced delayed response times in emergencies while 911 operators figured out whose jurisdiction they’re in. And although they reside in Irving, some maps put their homes in 75063 while others say they live in 75019. They’ve learned the hard way to have their mail addressed to 75019 because their neighborhood is serviced by the post office in Coppell.

Choppa told me he contacted U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne’s office for help with their mail. When I emailed Van Duyne’s office to confirm that, I couldn’t help but laugh at the response:

“It turns out that, as a result of redistricting, South Haven is in Congressman Marc Veasey’s district,” Press Secretary Rosie Wilson wrote. “Mr. Choppa may have reached out to our office, but we would have directed him to Congressman Veasey’s office as they would’ve been the best people to help address the postal delivery issue.”

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Local Leaders Approving New Tax Rates

Coppell’s lowest property tax rate in at least 40 years was unanimously approved by the City Council last week.

On Tuesday, the council signed off on a rate of 49.1818 cents per $100 of valuation. Although that rate is about 5.2 percent lower than the previous rate, Director of Strategic Financial Engagement Kim Tiehen said the city expects to bring in nearly $1.8 million worth of additional taxes. That’s because the combined value of all properties in Coppell grew by 9.25 percent.

Under the newly approved tax rate, Tiehen said, the owner of an average Coppell home with a homestead exemption will pay about $2,408 to the city, an increase of about $68. The owner of an average Coppell home with a homestead exemption and an additional exemption due to the owner’s age or disability will pay about $1,799, a decrease of more than $22.

Of course, we pay taxes to other entities besides the city. A portion of our property taxes go to the county government, but the biggest chunk is supposed to benefit our school district. The numbers provided at the website on this postcard show that the City of Coppell will account for 28 percent of my $6,200 tax bill while Coppell ISD will claim 46 percent.

Like me, most Coppell residents live in Coppell ISD. That school district’s trustees will consider a tax rate of $1.0535 per $100 of valuation tomorrow. A public hearing is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.

The Riverchase subdivision and some other homes on the east side of Coppell are within Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, and its trustees approved a tax rate of 98.36 cents per $100 on Thursday. Several homes on the city’s north side are within Lewisville ISD, where trustees approved a tax rate of $1.1301 per $100 of valuation on Aug. 16. That rate could drop to $1.0234 with voters’ approval in November.

Returning our focus to Town Center, the only Coppell resident who participated in Tuesday’s public hearings on the city’s budget and tax rate was Barbara Bailey, a frequent speaker at council meetings. Bailey said she doesn’t know anybody in Coppell with a $2,000 tax bill, and she accused the city staff of not telling the whole story.

“It’s half-truths,” Bailey said. “Yes, this is the lowest tax rate in forever, but they’re not telling you your taxes are still going up. And I think that’s all misleading. What’s with all the half-truths? What’s wrong with saying what’s actually going to happen to you?”

A few minutes later, Tiehen plainly acknowledged that property owners would pay tax bills that were much larger than the figures she was discussing.

“I’m only showing you what we’re responsible for and what we can control, which is the city’s portion,” Tiehen said.

The council members’ sentiments were much more positive than Bailey’s. Kevin Nevels thanked Tiehen and her team for the work they put into finalizing the budget and hosting the various workshops that gave the public and the council multiple opportunities to weigh in.

“It’s a lot of work, and we’ve got a great city, and it takes a lot of manpower hours to make that happen,” he said.

Jim Walker also praised Tiehen’s team and his council peers as he pointed out that the city is dealing with inflationary pricing just like families and individuals are.

“This budget has been well-crafted while we’re all swimming into some fairly serious challenges,” Walker said.

Mayor Wes Mays pointed out that the city is budgeting under the assumption that Rule 3.334 will come to pass. That’s the name of Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar’s proposal to shift the sales taxes on an online transaction from the seller’s city to the buyer’s city. It’s on hold due to a lawsuit filed by Coppell and a few other warehouse-heavy cities. A trial is scheduled for January.

“That is also part of the phenomenal ability to come up with a budget like this,” Mays said.

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Coppell’s Water Situation Remains Dire

BREAKING NEWS: It’s hellishly hot and dry in Texas this summer.

Consequently, Tuesday’s Coppell City Council meeting included a presentation from Director of Public Works Mike Garza, who reminded everybody listening that Stage 2 watering restrictions remain in effect.

“Every summer, we deal with elevated water demand,” Garza said. “It’s nothing new, and it’s not uncommon.”

What’s different this year, Garza said, is the combination of extreme heat and an extended drought. Yesterday was the region’s ninth consecutive day with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees and the 30th such day in a 33-day span. It’s been six weeks since we’ve had any measurable rain.

As I wrote three weeks ago, the Stage 2 restrictions were triggered because Coppell used more than 16.65 million gallons of water — or 90 percent of our daily maximum — on five consecutive days. If we exceed our maximum daily allotment of 18.5 million gallons just once, the city’s contract with Dallas Water Utilities calls for an automatic increase of one million gallons that will cost Coppell an additional $320,000 annually for at least five years.

Until I watched Garza’s presentation, I didn’t know there is a secondary trigger for Stage 2 restrictions: if the city’s ground-storage reservoirs can’t recover for two consecutive days. That happened on July 31 and Aug. 1.

We guzzled our maximum of 18.5 million gallons of water on July 31, a day after we soaked up 16.3 million gallons. Garza said that was the first time Coppell had experienced such a big day-to-day increase in demand. July 31 was actually the first of five consecutive days that we used 18.5 million gallons. On the fourth of those days (Aug. 3), the city announced the Stage 2 restrictions would be instituted on Aug. 7.

After dipping below 18.5 million gallons for a couple of days, we hit the maximum again on Aug. 7 for the sixth time in an eight-day span. But as word of the restrictions made the rounds, our daily usage stayed below 18 million gallons for the next six days. Yet we crept above 18 million on Aug. 15 and hit the maximum usage twice more on Aug. 17 and 18.

The mercury is expected to exceed 100 degrees again today, but that streak is thankfully supposed to end tomorrow. The latest forecasts call for temperatures to stay below the century mark through Thursday.

During Tuesday’s presentation, Mayor Pro Tem John Jun asked Garza how the city enforces the watering restrictions. The Utility Billing staff can tell when a household or business is using more water than normal, Garza said, so they will call customers in those situations to suggest they dial things back.

(He did not mention that you can use the form linked under Question 9 on this page to report violations. I’ve already used it to snitch on Rosa’s Café & Tortilla Factory, Tom Thumb, and the Townlake of Coppell apartment complex for running their sprinklers between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., which is against the rules.)

Garza expressed confidence that Coppell will collectively be able to curtail our watering and not be forced to buy more H20 from Dallas.

“Let’s hope we don’t have to have you back up here again this year,” Mayor Wes Mays said in response.

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Irving Prices Twice-a-Week Trash Collection

A return to twice-per-week trash collection in Irving may increase residents’ monthly bills by less than $3.

Staffing issues forced Irving to start collecting trash and recycling on a weekly basis last October. Earlier this month, a majority of the City Council made it clear that their constituents want to place their trash in bags (as opposed to bins), and they want those bags collected twice a week.

(See “Irving Commits to Trash Bags” in Vol. 3, No. 24.)

During the council’s Aug. 18 budget retreat, Solid Waste Services Travis Switzer said he needs to add 21 people to successfully execute twice-per-week collection, which would bring his department’s total headcount to 104. Each trash truck would have a three-person crew.

He proposed raising wages by $1 per hour. Heavy equipment operators with commercial driver’s licenses would make between $24.09 and $32.93 per hour, which would equate to an annual salary of about $68,500. Other trash collectors would make between $19.84 and $27.56 per hour, or about $57,325 annually.

To fund these positions and raises, Switzer proposed a $2.75 increase to the monthly collection fees. Residents and places of worship would pay $35.25 per month, and businesses would pay $45.75.

The proposed rate increases will be read into the record during the council’s Sept. 14 and Oct. 12 meetings. Assuming a majority of the council approves them, the rates would take effect in November, and twice-per-week collection would resume in December.

Council Member Dennis Webb missed the Aug. 3 meeting at which his peers directed Switzer to figure out how to restore twice-per-week collection in bags. He was surprised by this move, especially considering that the city has issued a request for proposals from consultants who could analyze how Irving might follow other cities’ paths toward automated collection.

“I’ve heard not just this staff [but] previous staff say that this model that we have is not sustainable,” Webb said. “It’s inefficient, and it’s very expensive.”

Mayor Pro Tem Al Zapanta said he would like the city to still hire a consultant to provide that analysis, and Council Member Kyle Taylor agreed. Taylor said the city really needs an impartial third party to examine its trash situation and present the council with options.

“It’s just gotten too emotional, too political, and even too personal on some levels,” Taylor said.

After the council’s Aug. 3 discussion, Mayor Rick Stopfer told Switzer his first priority was to brief his staff on the council’s direction. Switzer used “shock” to describe the collectors’ reaction.

“While I can’t say there is happiness with moving back to twice a week, I do not expect any sort of mass exodus of folks,” Switzer said.

City Manager Chris Hillman said work continues on establishing an ordinance that is designed to make the collectors’ jobs easier. The proposed ordinance would restrict how many bags a household could put out each week and also limit how much each bag could weigh.

(See “Irving Leaders Back Trash Collectors” in Vol. 3, No. 22.)

Stopfer pointed out that all trash collectors enjoy a three-day weekend under the weekly model; when twice weekly collections begin again, those three-day weekends will go away. But Switzer said the collectors are incentivized to work quickly. If they complete their routes in less than 40 hours, they are still paid for 40 hours’ worth of work.

Switzer seemed confident that he would be able to hire enough people to carry out his proposal. When the council recently greenlit the addition of nine positions, he said, more than 80 people applied. Webb, however, had his doubts.

“The reality of it is, we’ve got a culture of people that don’t want to work that hard,” Webb said.

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Restaurant Roundup

• San Daniele Italian Eatery will start serving pizza and pasta tomorrow on the northwest corner of Denton Tap and Sandy Lake roads, in the space formerly occupied by Kelly’s Texican. A ribbon-cutting ceremony that I previously reported would happen on Tuesday has been delayed until Sept. 14.

• The space on the southwest corner of MacArthur Boulevard and I-635 that used to be a Texadelphia will soon become a Banh Shop, according to a form filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.

• Based on another form filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, I previously reported that an eatery called “Bombay Pizza” was coming to the southwest corner of MacArthur Boulevard and East Belt Line Road. A sign has gone up there indicating that the joint’s full name is actually “Bombay Curry Pizza.” Well, this changes everything.

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Chronicle Crumbs

• Coppell ISD has announced the roster for its Bond Steering Committee. The 19 appointees include two recent candidates for the Board of Trustees, Carol McGuire and Jonathan Powers. Other familiar names include Coppell Planning and Zoning Commissioner Freddie Guerra and architect Greg Frnka, a former commissioner who frequently appears before that panel.

• Lewisville ISD is going to start electing some trustees to represent specific areas of the school district as part of a settlement of a lawsuit filed by the Brewer Storefront, as reported by The Dallas Morning News. (That affiliate of the Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors firm similarly sued Coppell ISD over its exclusively at-large elections in 2016.) These new election procedures will be discussed at 6 p.m. tomorrow during a special Lewisville ISD board meeting.

• CEC Entertainment, which is headquartered in the Irving portion of Coppell ISD, plans to remodel every single one its Chuck E. Cheese locations in the next few years. The Dallas Business Journal reported that project will cost between $40 million to $50 million per year.

• If you live in Valley Ranch and have been dumping your yard trimmings on property that doesn’t belong to you, you should know that your activity is on the radar of one of your most powerful neighbors. Irving Mayor Rick Stopfer said he plans to meet with the Valley Ranch Association to discuss the piles of brush that have been accumulating along the canals. “Either they’re gonna put up ‘No Dumping’ signs, or I’m gonna take a couple days off and figure out who’s doing it,” he said. “One of the two things is gonna happen.”

• After some prodding from Coppell Mayor Wes Mays, Council Member Don Carroll announced during Tuesday’s meeting that he will be the next chair of the Dallas Regional Mobility Coalition. That’s a group of elected officials whose primary mission is to “advance critical infrastructure projects in North Texas.” Hmm … like deceleration lanes for isolated neighborhoods?

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Community Calendar

Keeping Children & Teens Safe Online: Parents of children who love technology (in other words, all children) are invited to the Cozby Library and Community Commons at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, when Officer Kelly Luther with the Coppell Police Department will cover a range of topics.

iLead: Friday is the deadline to apply for iLead, Coppell ISD’s training program for adults who are interested in becoming informed leaders and advocates for students. Each participant must commit to attending two-hour evening sessions on Sept. 20, Oct. 4, Oct. 18, Nov. 1, and Nov. 8.

Active Adult Housing Survey: Friday is also the deadline to participate in a survey devised by the City of Coppell’s Future Oriented Approach to Residential Development Task Force.

Coppell Women’s Club: The Class Act Tap Company will perform during the club’s next meeting, which is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Sept. 6 at Church of the Apostles on MacArthur Boulevard.

Eating Healthy for Busy Families: Dietitian Zarana Parekh will be at the Cozby Library and Community Commons at 11 a.m. on Sept. 9 to discuss simple and practical ways to support healthy eating for the entire family. You should leave the entire family at home, though, as this event is for adults only.

Four Day Weekend: The acclaimed improv comedy troupe will return to the Coppell Arts Center for their monthly engagement at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 14.

Art, Sip & Stroll: The Coppell Arts Council’s annual fundraiser in Old Town will feature a headline performance by Downtown Fever - An Emerald City Band. The festivities will begin at 6 p.m. on Sept. 22.

Vocal Majority: The a cappella chorus that has performed all over the world will bring their voices to the Coppell Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 23.

Old Town Coppell Car Show: The Coppell Historical Museum plans to showcase vintage vehicles between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Sept. 30.