Coppell Chronicle Vol. 3, No. 13

Some Neighbors Pumped About Kroger Gas Station • Coppell ISD Salaries Deemed Competitive • Vets Memorial Sent Back to Drawing Board • Affordable Apartments Planned in CFBISD

Project Graduation is an effort to host a drug-free and alcohol-free party for Coppell High School graduates after their commencement ceremony. I was surprised to learn on Thursday morning that only 75 tickets had been sold, considering nearly 1,000 kids are set to receive diplomas on Friday evening.

I made a lot of noise about this on social media, and I’ve since been told that ticket sales have surpassed 250. If you’re the parent of a graduating senior, there’s still time to buy your son or daughter a ticket. And no, they don’t have to stay at Main Event all night. But if they do want to leave before 5 a.m., you will have to sign them out, for safety’s sake.

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Some Neighbors Pumped About Gas Station

Kroger shoppers may soon be able to fill their tanks at the same place they fill their carts. The grocery store wants to build a fuel station on its parking lot.

The proposal calls for five double-sided pumps and a kiosk to be installed on the northeast corner of the property, between the store and MacArthur Boulevard. On Thursday, the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission voted 5-1 to recommend approval of the plans, on the condition that gas would be sold only when groceries are sold — between 6 a.m. and midnight. Kroger, however, wants the fuel to flow 24 hours a day.

The City Council will have the final say during their June 13 meeting. In the meantime, people on both sides of the argument lined up on Thursday to speak their minds.

Krystyna Isaacs resides on Pintail Court, a cul-de-sac directly north of the store. She was not opposed to Kroger adding a gas station generally; she was opposed to Kroger adding a gas station specifically on the portion of its property closest to her home and to Lakeside Elementary School.

Like other speakers, Isaacs had complaints about noise, light, and trash generated by the store and its vendors. Isaacs said she routinely organizes Boy Scouts to clean up litter on Kroger’s parking lot, and she added, “Whoever’s managing Kroger doesn’t care about Coppell.” (Tom Thumb and Market Street might want to add that quote to the bottom of their receipts.)

Danny and Rebecca Watson, who live nearly a mile west of the store, raised concerns about fuel tanks’ environmental impact, especially considering the store’s proximity to two schools — Lakeside and Universal Academy. However, Deputy Fire Chief Tim Oates said he’s dealt with zero complaints about vapors from gas stations in his 32-year career. And Commissioner Cindy Bishop, an attorney and chemical engineer who practices environmental law, had no concerns on that front. “Gas stations have come a long way with technology,” she said. Bishop cast the lone dissenting vote on Thursday because of her concerns about traffic.

Bobby Finken lives nearly as far from Kroger as the Watsons, but in the opposite direction. However, Finken is the treasurer for the Lakes of Coppell Homeowners Association, which he said is “the largest HOA in the city of Coppell.” (Well, la-tee-dah!) Finken said his HOA’s board met the previous evening and asked him to express their overwhelming support for having an opportunity to buy gasoline close to their homes.

“If you’re on our side of town, unless you’re going westbound, it’s a real hassle,” Finken said. “We all get points; we shop there. We think they’ve been a very good tenant to work with, especially from the HOA [perspective], and we hope it gets approved.”

Assuming the City Council approves the gas station next month, these renderings supplied by Kroger might accurately represent the expressions of Lakes of Coppell homeowners.

“Shawty got low, low, low, low, low, low, low, low.”

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Coppell ISD Salaries Deemed Competitive

As Coppell ISD trustees have ranked their budget priorities, the top item has consistently been “Remain competitive with salary and benefits.” A survey says they are meeting that goal.

At Coppell ISD’s request, the Texas Association of School Boards recently conducted a salary study that surveyed 16 other districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This graph shows that Coppell ISD pays teachers more than the market median at all levels of experience.

“You are very competitive when you start getting up to around your [10-year salary] and beyond. You are much higher above the market median in that area,” Zach Hobbs, the Assistant Director of HR Services for TASB, told the trustees during their April 3 workshop. “Teachers in neighboring districts that have somewhere between five and 10 years of experience are probably looking at that and going, ‘Hmm. I might want to explore Coppell ISD.’”

Hobbs also discussed stipends that districts offer to teachers with advanced degrees or areas of expertise. For example, Coppell ISD offers an extra $1,200 to a teacher with a master’s degree, but the market median is $1,500. Coppell ISD also falls short of the market median when it comes to stipends for bilingual teachers ($3,500 vs. $4,000).

“The first graph makes me happy that we are competitive,” Trustee Manish Sethi said, “but looking at the actual numbers — percentage is one thing, but looking at the actual dollar numbers, they easily get buffered with the stipends.”

Matching those market medians for stipends was among a series of recommendations that Hobbs offered. He also recommended basing teachers’ general pay increases on the market’s median salary ($63,800), and he offered models for an increase of 3 percent and 4 percent. The trustees favored 4 percent of $63,800, which is about $2,550. Such raises — which are not yet official — would look like this.

As for employees other than teachers, Hobbs recommended using the midpoint of a pay grade as the basis for raise calculations. “It allows those that are paid below market value to move up to the market value faster,” he said. “They’re going to get a higher percent of their salary than those that are already being paid well above market value.”

During the trustees’ May 15 workshop, Chief Financial Officer Diana Sircar said her budget assumptions include a salary of $61,150 for rookie teachers and cost-of-living increases based on 4 percent of the midpoint.

More budget workshops are set for June 5 and Aug. 7; the trustees are scheduled to adopt the budget and tax rate on Aug. 28.

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Vets Memorial Sent Back to Drawing Board

A focus group assembled to help create a veterans memorial in Coppell has more work to do.

During the City Council’s April 25 meeting, Director of Community Experiences Jessica Carpenter briefed the council on the work the focus group had done to that point. Multiple council members said they were surprised to learn that the work included conceptual designs.

Coppell resident Samit Patel — whose name you should recognize due to his recent campaign for a seat on the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees — works for Olsson Studio, which was hired to create two designs. Both of them placed the memorial in the plaza between Town Center and its namesake elementary school.

Patel and Carpenter said the focus group chose the design shown below, and the Parks and Recreation Board chose the same one during their April 3 meeting, without being told that it was the focus group’s preference.

Based on the focus group’s feedback, Patel’s design calls for a battle cross sculpture plus six granite panels bearing plaques for six branches of the U.S. military: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The focus group’s preference was to not list the names of individuals.

“I didn’t know they were going to actually put pen to paper,” Council Member Mark Hill said during the April 25 presentation. Hill, who is an architect, suggested the city might want to solicit more designs from architecture students via a competition. “I want to try to put this the right way: This is kind of the limited vision of one design firm that we’re seeing,” Hill said.

Brianna Hinojosa-Smith was just as surprised as Hill by the design. She also said she was struggling with the location, because she was on the council when Town Center Plaza was created. “There was so much around that that was about new beginnings and celebration,” she said. “This obviously makes it a place of reflection and respect and something different.”

Multiple council members said they have received lots of emails touting Andrew Brown Park East as a better location for a veterans memorial. I assume at least a few of those emails came from Phil Laberge, because he advocated for such a move during the “citizen’s appearance” portions of the April 3 meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board and the April 11, April 25, and May 9 meetings of the City Council.

“We need to decide if this is a smaller veterans plaza that we place behind City Hall, or is it a larger, much more visible veterans memorial that we place in Andy Brown Park where lots of people would see it, or some other location,” Laberge said during his most recent soliloquy.

On April 25, Carpenter said the focus group preferred Town Center Plaza to Andy Brown East because the park has so much going on that a memorial might seem like an afterthought there. That resonated with Mayor Wes Mays, who said the park seemed like an “incongruous” location for a memorial.

“Knowing that someone’s trying to reflect on something,” he said, “having a soccer game or a Frisbee match going on outside just seems to be a little bit of a mismatch.”

By contrast, Town Center Plaza is underutilized, because the city events it used to host — such as the Christmas tree lighting — have outgrown the plaza. “This space has not been activated,” Carpenter said, “and this would be a way to breathe life into the space again.”

Other issues with Andy Brown East: The Parks Board has discussed building a splash pad at the park’s main entrance, due east of The CORE, based on community feedback. That would push a memorial deeper into the park, which could be problematic for people with mobility issues. And Council Member Kevin Nevels pointed out that Andy Brown East is, by design, a flood plain; a memorial that would withstand floodwaters would be more expensive.

“While I want to make sure we give our veterans the respect and, you know, give this memorial the dignity that it deserves, ultimately we do have to make sure we watch out for the cost of the overall project,” Nevels said.

Carpenter said the approved budget for the memorial is in the range of $350,000, an amount that she termed “very, very small.”

In the end, City Manager Mike Land said the focus group would be reconvened, several minutes after Nevels said this: “I want to make sure that we don’t just throw out their recommendations based on the fact that we’ve received some emails. While I know we have the final say, I do want to make sure we respect the process.”

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Affordable Apartments Planned in CFBISD

Although I try my darnedest not to publish mistakes in this newsletter, I’m happy to own up to them when they do happen. Back in March, I told you a Dallas developer called Palladium USA wants to build a mixed-income apartment complex on a vacant lot in Coppell ISD.

(See “Groundwork Laid for Complex by Walmart” in Vol. 3, No. 2.)

I have since learned that vacant property at 8000 Walton Blvd., directly north of the Walmart near Interstate 635, is actually within the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district. The packet for the Irving City Council’s May 4 meeting included a letter from CFBISD’s Executive Director of Communications, Chris Moore, who said nearby schools — such as Freeman Elementary in Valley Ranch and Riverchase Elementary in Coppell — “can support potential new enrollment” created by the three-story, 90-unit complex Palladium wants to build. I apologize for the error.

On May 4, the Irving City Council approved two changes to the property:

• They changed its category in the city’s comprehensive plan from “neighborhood commercial” to “mid-density residential.”

• They changed its zoning from “neighborhood commercial” to “multifamily residential.”

The property on Walton Boulevard is within Irving City Council District 6, which is represented by Mayor Pro Tem Al Zapanta, a resident of Hackberry Creek. Before the votes, he encouraged Palladium to find another location in Irving for the complex. “Some of my colleagues would love to have you there, especially in some of the southern districts,” he said.

Brad LaMorgese also resides in Hackberry Creek. Although he currently occupies one of the council’s at-large seats, he previously represented District 6, which he said already has more than 11,000 apartments, including the two largest tax-credit developments in Irving.

Mayor Rick Stopfer, a resident of Valley Ranch who also used to represent District 6, wanted to know if Palladium could set aside a certain number of its affordable units for people who already live in Irving. The mayor was told that would not be legal.

“What are we accomplishing by saying, ‘Yes, we’ve got affordable housing; everybody else from everywhere else, come on in and join us,’” Stopfer said. “We haven’t really addressed our issues.”

The plans for Palladium’s complex on Walton Boulevard include a pool, a playground, and a dog park.

Dennis Webb is the City Council’s other at-large member. Before making the motions to approve both changes, Webb said he wouldn’t have supported this project if it wasn’t designed to house people with a range of incomes. “I hear so many young families tell me they can’t afford to live in Irving, and that bothers me,” Webb said.

Palladium officials said 59 of the 90 units will be leased at affordable rates, and the remaining 31 will be leased at market rates. There will be a range of affordable rates, depending on the tenants’ income, but here’s a quick look at the lowest rates, according to Palladium.

The change to the property’s category in the city’s comprehensive plan was approved by a vote of 5-4, with John Bloch joining LaMorgese, Stopfer, and Zapanta in the minority. The subsequent vote on the zoning change was 6-3, with Zapanta siding with the majority.

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Chronicle Crumbs

• Although I was wrong about the Walton Boulevard property being zoned to Coppell ISD, I am certain that the properties at 7810 and 7815 Jetstar Drive are within the Coppell school district’s boundaries. Earlier in their May 4 meeting, the Irving City Council unanimously approved a zoning change from “commercial office” to “light industrial” for those parcels along State Highway 114, as requested by a Canadian firm called Hopewell Development.

• Coppell City Council Member Cliff Long, who is stepping down after three terms, will be honored during a public reception scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at Town Center. During that evening’s council meeting, Mayor Wes Mays will read a proclamation designating Tuesday as “Cliff Long Appreciation Day.”

• Long’s successor on the City Council, Jim Walker, will take his oath of office on Tuesday. Although he has already resigned from the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission, Walker stopped by that panel’s meeting on Thursday to eat some cake and deliver some parting words of wisdom.

• Ranna Raval will take her oath of office during Monday’s meeting of the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees. The seat she will occupy has been empty lately; her predecessor, Neena Biswas, did not attend the board’s workshop on May 15, its regular monthly meeting on April 24, or its workshop on April 3.

• Last May, I wrote about Pinkerton Elementary teacher Jacquie Graves teaming up with Donut City to turn a bunch of students’ dreams into reality. (See “Cowpokes Go Nuts for Donuts” in Vol. 2, No. 14.) As Graves recently documented on her Facebook page, they did it again this semester.

• The Coppell Arts Center has announced the lineup for its third season of presented performances.

• Do you have the pipes to competently sing “The Star-Spangled Banner”? The City of Coppell is seeking someone to belt out our national anthem during the “Celebrate Coppell: Party in the Park” event on July 1. Click here for audition details.

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Community Calendar

Coyote Seminar: Coyotes have been spotted in Coppell’s Grapevine Springs Park, so it’s important to be aware and stay safe. Rachel Richter, an urban wildlife biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife, will be at the Coppell Senior and Community Center at 10 a.m. on Tuesday to share her expertise.

Public Works Storytime: Employees of the Coppell Public Works Department will bring their equipment to the Cozby Library and Community Commons at 10:15 a.m. on Wednesday for a special storytime.

Coppell High School Graduation Ceremony: I’m putting this on the calendar because the ceremony scheduled for Friday evening at Buddy Echols Field is supposed to be punctuated by fireworks — fireworks that will be brought to you, in part, by the Coppell Chronicle. You’ve been warned.

Coppell 5K: The annual race benefiting Coppell’s Special Olympics teams is scheduled for June 3 at Andrew Brown Park East. The Coppell Chronicle is among the event’s sponsors.

Hit Like a Girl: The Coppell Police Department will offer a self-defense course for recent high school graduates from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on June 13 and 14. Attendance on both days will be required to earn a certificate. Reserve one of the limited spaces by sending an email to Officer Kelly Luther via that link.

Superhero Adventures: Theatre Coppell will offer two workshops for young thespians during the week of June 19-23. Superheroes in first through third grades will assemble between 9 a.m. and noon; superheroes in fourth through sixth grades will team up between 1 and 4 p.m.

Coppell Youth Soccer Association: Registration for the fall leagues is open through July 6.