Coppell Chronicle Vol. 4, No. 9
Pickleball Players Apply Full-Court Press • Pickleball Not Possible at Coppell High • Voting for Local Elections Starts Monday • Parts of Lewisville Mall May be Demolished
I apologize for the lateness of this edition. Time that I would have spent on it last week was devoted to preparing the presentation I made on Saturday afternoon at the Cozby Library and Community Commons.
I appreciate the 40 or so people who braved the stormy weather to hear me discuss local journalism, and I have an offer for one particular patron who missed a portion of the proceedings. This lady arrived early and started reading a book in the lobby. She apparently got so engrossed in her book that she didn’t realize I’d started the show. Librarian Jennifer Franz alerted me to this situation once I’d finished talking, but the woman left before I could meet her.
Ma’am, if you’re reading this, here’s my offer: Identify yourself by replying to this edition, and I’ll meet you for a one-on-one presentation over coffee.
Pickleball Players Apply Full-Court Press
BREAKING NEWS: People love to play pickleball.
I’m kidding about the breaking news part. America’s fastest-growing sport is so popular, I’ve added a pickleball tab to my website to keep track of all the stories I’ve written about it. Check out these stats shown to the Coppell Parks and Recreation Board this month. That middle set says it all.
A group of pickleball enthusiasts — including some former elected officials — spoke to the Coppell Parks and Recreation Board and the Coppell City Council this month. They want the city to create more pickleball courts, because the ones we do have are too crowded.
“This is not a trend,” said Nancy Yingling, a former City Council member. “It’s not going away. It’s going to be here for a while.”
During the council’s April 9 meeting, former Mayor Candy Sheehan did most of the talking. She began her presentation by paraphrasing a quote from one of my favorite movies, Field of Dreams.
“Build it, and they will come. They came,” Sheehan said. “They came, and they keep coming. We are overwhelmed with pickleball players.”
Sheehan and the three dozen people she brought with her know that building more courts is a long-term request. But they also had what they labeled four short-term requests:
1. Hire a director who promotes pickleball at least as much as tennis.
Eric Clay, who had managed the Wagon Wheel Tennis and Pickleball Center for more than 10 years, left Coppell in September to become the manager of a new $4.5 million pickleball facility in Southlake. That joint opened in February.
During the Parks and Recreation Board meeting on April 1, Jason Brooks — who manages Wagon Wheel’s pro shop and supervises the facility’s events — said an offer had been extended to Clay’s potential replacement. I was hoping to announce that hire in this article, but Assistant Director of Community Experiences Sheri Belmont told me to cool my jets. On Friday, she informed me that the new manager’s name will be revealed shortly before he or she starts later this month.
2. Fix the mud pit.
The Wagon Wheel facility has four courts that are dedicated to pickleball, but the area you have to walk across to access those courts often gets muddy, which leads to a mess on the courts. That problem has been solved by the installation of artificial turf. “It looks absolutely beautiful,” Belmont said via email, “and we are excited for what it will provide to our users!”
3. “Double line” more tennis courts for peak times of pickleball open play.
The pickleballers’ slide presentation said only four of the 12 tennis courts at Wagon Wheel are double lined to accommodate pickleball, but Belmont said the number is five of 12. Regardless, people wait for 30 minutes to play a game that lasts from 10 to 18 minutes, Sheehan said.
Stephen Harris spoke during the “Citizen’s Appearance” portion of both meetings. “Just paint more lines — if for no other reason, optionality,” he told the council. “Paint more lines on the tennis courts, and apparently, it takes an act of the City Council to do this!”
4. Raise non-resident fees to augment funding for more facilities.
Harris said it’s “mind-blowing” that non-residents are charged only slightly more than residents. Officially, the difference is $1 for open play ($2.50 vs. $3.50), but Harris said that difference is reduced to 50 cents for frequent users. He said non-residents should be charged double or triple what residents are charged. “This is simple economics.”
Sheehan said the open play sessions draw players from as far away as Mesquite and Sanger, largely due to the low prices. Sheehan was joined at the podium during the council meeting by Barb Schmidt, a former Coppell ISD trustee.
“Coppell residents are getting boxed out because they can’t participate on a Wednesday night or a Saturday, and they’re starting to get angry,” Schmidt said during the Parks and Recreation Board meeting.
Director of Community Experiences Jessica Carpenter told the Parks and Recreation Board that the fees won’t change until the city does a “sweeping study” of what other municipal facilities charge. She also said this: “The challenge that we’re facing with pickleball is not unique to Coppell, Texas. It is not unique to DFW. It’s not unique to the state. It is everywhere, in every city, in every county, and every city is trying their best to respond.”
Although the City Council granted the pickleball posse an audience, Mayor Wes Mays said the council generally doesn’t interact with such presenters.
“We do appreciate your perseverance and your passion,” Mays said. “Believe me, your requests have not gone unheard.”
The following changes weren’t part of the group’s official list of requests, but they are coming soon:
The Wagon Wheel facility will open one hour earlier in the summer (at 8 a.m. instead of 9) to help players beat the heat.
The CORE will add an open play session from 1 to 3:30 on Wednesday afternoons.
An additional open play session at Wagon Wheel on Sundays is being discussed.
As for the long-term ask (more dedicated pickleball courts), a feasibility study will be conducted this year. Carpenter said the study’s focus will be on expanding the Wagon Wheel facility, as opposed to building courts elsewhere in Coppell.
“There is opportunity there to restructure,” she told the Parks and Recreation Board. “Now, anything you add, that means something else has to go away. That’s anywhere around town; we’re in redevelopment. So anything new that comes in, something has to go away.”
Pickleball Not Possible at Coppell High
The finale of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air featured characters from The Jeffersons and Diff’rent Strokes. Law & Order had three crossovers with another cop show, Homicide: Life on the Street. And George Reeves once swooped into an episode of I Love Lucy as Superman.
As someone who watches recordings of public meetings more often than I watch TV shows these days, I’m reminded of these crossovers whenever a Coppell ISD administrator speaks to City of Coppell officials. The latest instance of this happened Thursday, when Sid Grant appeared before the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission.
Grant, who used to be Coppell ISD’s associate superintendent, recently came out of retirement to manage the district’s bond projects. On Thursday, he explained the zoning changes that Coppell ISD needs to construct a new fine arts rehearsal building behind Coppell High School and to expand the school’s tennis center.
(See “Trustees OK Bond Projects’ Maximum Prices” in Vol. 4, No. 6)
Grant has been addressing Coppell ISD trustees for years, so he’s used to stepping up to a microphone without introducing himself. After he finished his presentation, Senior Planner Mary Paron-Boswell had a friendly suggestion: “Sid, you might just want to tell them who you are.”
The commissioners didn’t hold that presumption against Grant. They all voted in favor of the zoning changes, which will be discussed during another public hearing before the City Council on May 14.
During the council’s April 9 meeting, former Mayor Candy Sheehan said Coppell ISD has declined to paint pickleball lines on the tennis courts at Coppell High School. When I asked Director of Communications Amanda Simpson why, she told me Athletic Director Kit Pehl said putting pickleball lines on just one of the 12 courts would make the facility ineligible to host district and regional tennis tournaments under UIL rules.
“We do share our tennis courts with the community, but the priority has to be our students and the sport for which they are designed,” Simpson said.
Voting for Local Elections Starts Monday
Early voting for the May 4 municipal elections begins tomorrow. If you reside in Dallas County, you can preview your ballot here. Denton County residents can do so here.
The only Coppell City Council competition features Freddie Guerra and Ramesh Premkumar, who are vying for the seat that John Jun is vacating.
April 4 was the candidates’ deadline to turn in finance reports detailing their contributions and expenditures through March 25. They’re each supposed to turn in another report this Friday that should cover their finances through Wednesday.
Guerra’s 30-days-out report says he raised $1,300, and $1,000 of that came from Henry Billingsley, who developed Cypress Waters with his wife, Lucy Billingsley. Guerra’s remaining contributions were from two of his neighbors; Walter Gruenes gave him $200, and Daniel Burgess chipped in $100. Because all of those big campaign signs around town cost more than $1,300, Guerra reported nearly $4,500 worth of expenditures made by credit card.
Premkumar’s report says he received a single contribution of $5,363 from someone named Ramesh Premkumar. (What a coincidence!) He reported $2,191 worth of expenditures, leaving him with $3,172 on hand by the end of the filing period.
Guerra and Premkumar both took time out of their busy schedules to fill out a questionnaire I sent them. You can download this PDF to review their answers.
The only Coppell ISD Board of Trustees competition features Nichole Bentley, who is seeking a third term, and challenger Eneida Padró.
Bentley reported $1,375 worth of contributions from 11 individuals. LeRoy Wilkerson gave her $500, David Eckberg contributed $250, and these folks all had $100 to spare: Julia Albright, Tonya Booth, Quay Bratton, and Kim Mobley. Bentley also loaned her campaign $1,200.
Padró did not turn in a finance report, and she told me that was because her campaign had no financial activity through March 25. Padró acknowledged receipt of my questionnaire, but she didn’t return any answers before I published this edition. [Edit: I received her answers about two hours after this edition was published.]
Bentley and Padró participated in an April 3 forum hosted by the Coppell ISD PTO presidents, and you can watch most of that event here. (Portions are missing or inaudible due to technical issues.) Bentley, Guerra, and Premkumar all showed up for an April 16 forum hosted by the Coppell Chamber of Commerce, and a recording is available here.
In other cities and districts that overlap with Coppell and Coppell ISD …
Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD
Trustee Cassandra Hatfield and newcomers Marjorie Barnes, Paul Gilmore, and Luis Palomo are competing for two seats. Each voter gets two votes, and you can give them to the same candidate. I sent a questionnaire to all four candidates; only Barnes and Hatfield responded.
City of Irving
Incumbent Council Member Al Zapanta has a challenger named Khalid Khan, and incumbent Council Member Dennis Webb has one named Khaleel Ahmed. Webb answered my questionnaire, and you can see his responses below. But Ahmed and Khan ignored it, and Zapanta responded by sending me a copy of the Dallas Morning News editorial endorsing him. (For the record, the Morning News editorial board also endorsed Webb and Guerra but did not weigh in on the Coppell ISD and CFBISD campaigns.)
Irving voters will also mull a $200 million bond proposal that would finance a new City Hall.
(See “Irving Voters to Consider New City Hall” in Vol. 3, No. 51.)
City of Dallas
Voters who reside in Cypress Waters will consider 10 bond propositions that would allow Dallas to borrow up to $1.25 billion (yes, billion with a b) to fund various projects, including roads, parks, libraries, and public-safety facilities. According to this map, it appears Cypress Waters would get diddly squat.
Lewisville ISD
Incumbents Michelle Alkhatib and Allison Lassahn are competing for Lassahn’s seat. This highly unusual situation is a result of Lewisville ISD transitioning from purely at-large elections to a mix of geographic and at-large seats. Due to a lack of personal bandwidth, I did not send questionnaires to the Lewisville ISD and Lewisville candidates.
Lewisville ISD voters will also consider three bond propositions that would finance stadiums, natatoriums, and other athletics facilities. Last November, a majority of the district’s voters rejected very similar propositions.
The City of Lewisville also has some items on the ballot, and there’s one particular aspect of that election that interests me …
Parts of Lewisville Mall May be Demolished
If you haven’t been inside the building formerly known as Vista Ridge Mall lately, you’re not the only one. Cash registers are still ringing in the Cinemark multiplex and in the Zion Market and its food court — not to be confused with the mall’s main food court, which is largely deserted. Otherwise, the once-bustling shopping center is a ghost town. You can walk past several storefronts before finding one that’s occupied. The only remaining department store, Dillard’s, keeps its doors to the rest of the mall locked.
For about five years, the place was rebranded as Music City Mall when it was owned by a company called MCM Properties III. According to Denton County property records, a trio of California-based limited liability companies — 1000 South Vermont LLC, 1054 Vermont LLC, and 1035 Menlo LLC — purchased the mall in August of 2022. After that, it was renamed The Vista.
I’m telling you this because the Lewisville City Council approved placing a $263.4 million bond package on the May 4 ballot. The package includes 24 proposed projects, and one of them is labeled “Vista Mall Street Infrastructure.” A presentation prepared by the city includes this graphic:
I don’t see how you can put streets through the mall’s property like that without demolishing parts of the mall. I wanted to speak to the mall’s owners and managers about such a plan, so I called The Vista’s main phone number and left three voicemails. None of my calls were returned. I also went to the management office behind the food court on Wednesday morning and rang the doorbell twice. Nobody ever came to the door.
I then resorted to sending a message to the mall’s Facebook page. That message was acknowledged, but the unidentified person who answered it said, “Ownership/management do not want to make a statement or comment at this time.”
I was, however, able to speak with Karen Locke, the 40-year Lewisville resident who chaired the city’s Blue Ribbon Bond Committee. Locke told me her understanding is that the mall’s new owners have plans to redevelop the property.
“The city is willing to have infrastructure projects to move things along,” Locke said. “We hope that we can break up a lot of that asphalt and have a lot more pleasing design.”
I took a stroll through the mall this afternoon and talked to a few of the remaining tenants. Only one of them knew about a potential demolition, and he said he heard about it from customers. The others found out from yours truly.
When Locke’s committee presented their recommendations to the City Council in December, Mayor TJ Gilmore said it’s possible that Lewisville’s tax rate would not go up, even if voters approve each of the four bond propositions on the ballot. Gilmore said that would align with every bond election during his tenure on the council.
“That’s not a promise,” Gilmore said. “We can’t promise that, but we will manage to that.”
Gilmore’s bid for a second term as mayor is being challenged by Alexander Davis, Winston Edmondson, and Tiffany Karim. And Council Member William Meridith also drew multiple challengers; he’ll contend with Penny Mallet and Ainsley Stelling.
What’s on the Agendas?
• The Coppell ISD Board of Trustees will meet at 6 p.m. on Monday. Their agenda includes approving an auditor to scrutinize the district’s finances. State law requires an efficiency audit before the trustees consider placing a tax increase on the November ballot. (See “Trustees Discuss Tax-Ratification Election” in Vol. 4, No. 3.)
• The Coppell City Council will meet at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. This will be the third consecutive council meeting that will be preceded by a closed-door discussion of City Manager Mike Land’s duties and performance.
• The Northwest Dallas County Flood Control District Board of Directors will meet at 11 a.m. on Tuesday. Like the Coppell City Council’s, this board’s agenda also includes an executive session for evaluating personnel. I’m not sure how you can have an executive session when you meet in an apartment complex’s clubhouse. Maybe somebody will turn up the volume on the stereo to make it harder for observers to hear the board’s deliberations. (See “District’s Board Flooded with Questions” in Vol. 3, No. 31.)
Chronicle Crumbs
• It’s officially official. Trader Joe’s updated its website last week to indicate that Store 456 will be coming soon to Coppell, specifically to the space on Denton Tap Road formerly occupied by Natural Grocers. Before that happened, I submitted a public information request to the city so I could see the application for an alcohol permit that inspired “Trader Joe’s Report Has Coppell Celebrating.” I received that application on Friday, and the address listed for Trader Joe’s is the Pittsburgh office of Flaherty & O’Hara, a law firm that specializes in alcohol. (Insert your own joke about lawyers here.)
• According to the Facebook page for the I-35E Phase 2 Project, the southbound exit ramp at Sandy Lake Road will be “permanently” closed beginning on May 18. I posed this question under that post: “‘Permanently closed’ as in even after this construction project is over?” My question has not yet been acknowledged.
• The Coppell Community Experiences Department announced that a portion of the trail in Andrew Brown Park West will be closed starting Tuesday to address erosion along Denton Creek. They’re asking everybody to stay clear, as there will be heavy equipment in the area.
• A March 26 vote by the Coppell City Council led to an article called “Texas Power Switch Loses Rights to City Logo.” Yet a subscriber forwarded me an April 9 email from Texas Power Switch that included the Coppell logo. Hannah Cook, the city’s Chief Communications Strategist, explained that the contract required a 60-day notice of termination, so Texas Power Switch can keep using the logo until May 25.
• If you’re an adult who resides in Irving, you may want to provide feedback to your city’s leaders by participating in the biennial Irving Resident Survey.
• If Wonder Woman tied me up in her lasso of truth and demanded to know my favorite dish from a Coppell restaurant, I’d go with the pechuga con rellena at Ole’s. How about you? What’s your go-to meal when dining out in Coppell?
(Only paid subscribers can leave comments. If you’re a free subscriber, consider upgrading for $5 per month or the low, low price of $30 per year.)
Community Calendar
Shark Family Fun Night: Families with young children are invited to the Cozby Library and Community Commons between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday for a shark-themed event featuring books, songs, games, crafts, and a special guest with a lot of teeth.
Work in Coppell Job Fair: Several local companies will be recruiting new employees between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Thursday at the Four Points by Sheraton Dallas Fort Worth Airport North.
Volunteer Fair: Need volunteer hours? Looking for volunteer opportunities that fit within your schedule? Local organizations seeking teen and adult volunteers will be at the Cozby Library and Community Commons between 2 and 4 p.m. on Saturday to help you find ways to give back to your community
Coppell Lariettes Spring Show: The Coppell High School drill team will perform at 7 p.m. on May 3 and 4 in the school’s auditorium.
Old Town Anniversary Party on the Lawn: Party Machine will provide the tunes, J. Macklin’s will provide the drinks, and Easy Slider, Halal Mother Truckers, and Tiff’s Treats will provide the food between 7 and 9 p.m. on May 3.
Run to Fund: The Coppell ISD Education Foundation’s 5K and 1-mile fun run will happen the morning of May 4 at Andrew Brown Park East.
Meet Your Asian American Neighbor: The Cozby Library and Community Commons will mark Asian Heritage Month between 2 and 3:30 p.m. on May 4. Hear from local Asian Americans from India, Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan as they share their experiences.
Music We Love: The Coppell Community Orchestra’s season finale will include the premiere of “Coppell In The Making,” an original composition inspired and commissioned by the City of Coppell. The performance is scheduled for 3 p.m. on May 5 at the Coppell Arts Center.
Victor’s:
(any combo from below)
Moscow Mule with Muddled Jalapeño
Truffle Deviled Eggs
Cup of Lobster Bisque
Caesar Salad
Pork Milanese
Mac & Cheese
Creme Brûlée
with take out boxes for all the leftovers because I want just one bite of it all!!!
We dine mostly in Coppell so I have a few - Pan-Roasted Chicken at Victor's, Chicken Piccata at San Danielle, Kale Salad w/Chicken at J Mack's, Tacos Al Carbon at Anamia's and the Crispy Chicken Tacos at Ole's on Taco Tuesday. I'm always amazed when people say we don't have enough good places to eat in Coppell!