Coppell Chronicle Vol. 3, No. 21

Council Taps Brakes on Carports • Promptly Pull Your Trash Bins Back • We Have Movement on Veterans Memorial • Water Crisis ’23 by the Numbers

Jul 16, 2023

Because you’re willing to pay for community journalism, you may enjoy a story that Ted “Don’t Call Me Coppell” Koppel recently produced for CBS News about new life for small-town newspapers in South Carolina. Parts of it made this formerly ink-stained wretch get a little misty-eyed.

Council Taps Brakes on Carports

If you were planning to build a carport based on the lead article in last week’s edition, I apologize for getting your hopes up. A proposal that would have made such structures more prevalent in Coppell did not get support from a majority of the City Council.

Tuesday’s council meeting included a public hearing on several proposed changes to Coppell’s regulations on accessory structures. Those proposals included reducing the minimum setbacks for such structures, increasing their maximum heights, and allowing ½ baths in workshops and ¾ baths in cabanas.

Another change would have created a new section of the Code of Ordinances exclusively about carports. The proposed verbiage in this new section would have allowed carports to be built only 5 feet from a property line; under the current regulations, the minimum setback is typically 20 feet.

During Tuesday’s work session, Council Member Kevin Nevels asked why the carport changes were proposed.

“Right now, it is prohibitive in most instances for someone to have a carport with that 20-foot setback,” Development Services Administrator Matt Steer said, “so we were looking to make it less restrictive.”

During the public hearing, Chief Building Official Steve Schubert said this about the 20-foot rule: “Based on a lot of the lots inside the city, there’s no way for them to ever be able to meet that — not unless they chop their house in half.”

Last year, the council allowed dozens of Sherwood Park residents to keep their noncompliant carports, some of which touch their owners’ property lines. On Tuesday, Jim Walker asked Steer whether that decision compelled the council to loosen carport restrictions throughout the city. Steer said no, because Sherwood Park is a planned development district; altering the rules for that subdivision did not set a precedent for the rest of Coppell.

(See “Sherwood Park Carports Can Remain in Place” in Vol. 2, No. 12.)

Walker later asked how many carport permits have been denied under the current regulations. Steer cited the Sherwood Park situation, and Schubert reminded the council of Bob Hunnicutt’s appeal that the Board of Adjustment denied last year.

(See “Common Sense Isn’t Always Up to Code” in Vol. 2, No. 25.)

Schubert said other applications for carports have been rejected immediately because of the 20-foot rule. “They never chose to fight it,” he said, “but they were not very pleased about the denial coming through my department.”

Eventually, Don Carroll made a motion to approve all of the proposed changes regarding accessory structures except for the carport language. Mayor Pro Tem John Jun asked Carroll why he wanted to leave out that portion of the proposal.

“I’d prefer not to have changes to the carport regulations,” Carroll said. “I think the restrictions on the carport regulations have served this city well, and at times when we have had certain neighborhoods that we have had to address for particular situations, we have addressed those separately, and I think that’s the appropriate way to move forward with it.”

Nevels and Walker supported Carroll’s motion, but Jun, Mark Hill, and Biju Mathew opposed it. Because Brianna Hinojosa-Smith was absent, it fell to Mayor Wes Mays to break the tie. The mayor voted with Carroll.

Despite that split decision, the council did take a series of 6-0 votes on Tuesday. For the record, they approved:

An $875,000 contract with PGAL so the Houston-based firm can design a new fire station on Moore Road.
Changes to the minimum parking requirements for daycares, kindergartens, and other moppet-centric establishments.
Increasing the maximum sizes of signs attached to businesses that have facades facing two public streets.
Reducing the minimum setback for businesses’ temporary signs from 15 feet to 10 feet. Such signs typically tout vacancies within a shopping center.
Zoning changes for two adjacent lots along State Highway 121, where a developer plans to build a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and a Tim Hortons.

YES! Bring on the Timbits!

Promptly Pull Your Trash Bins Back

OK, listen up, because this next part concerns you. You may not give a flip about carports, but I guarantee you generate garbage.

The City Council took one more 6-0 vote on Tuesday regarding the locations of residents’ trash and recycling bins. They approved adding these two statements to the Code of Ordinances:

Street pick-up: After refuse pick-up, all residential and recycling containers shall be removed from the curbside to a location behind the front building line.
Alley: After refuse pick-up, all residential and recycling containers shall be removed from the curbside. If the residence does not have a fence, such container shall be removed to a location no closer than five feet from the edge of the alley pavement and be placed in such a manner as to prevent the containers from rolling into the alley, spilling, or littering.

The existing ordinance says we can place our bins by a street or alley no earlier than 6 p.m. on the day before collection, and we’re supposed to pull them back no later than 7 a.m. on the day after collection. To my eye, it appears that the language approved by the council on Tuesday eliminates the latter time limit:

“Occupants of residential properties shall place set-outs at appropriate location at or before 7:00 a.m. but not prior to 6:00 p.m. the day prior to the scheduled collection day. Occupants shall receive the collections at the following location:”

Deleting that deadline seems like an odd edit, especially given how Assistant Director of Community Development Luay Rahil answered a question from Biju Mathew. The council member wanted clarification on how early he could place his bins by the street.

“A lot of people start putting out at 6 [p.m.], which is fine,” Rahil said. “The problem that we have [is] not before the collection, it’s after the collection. A lot of people are not taking their carts back.”

Although I couldn’t find this written down anywhere, Rahil told the council the ideal time frame for having your bins by a street or alley is from 7 p.m. on the day before collection until 7 p.m. on the day of collection.

Mathew asked what the penalty would be for noncompliance. As with most municipal matters, Rahil said the city would try to educate residents and send courtesy notices before resorting to penalties.

Meanwhile, I had a question of my own for Rahil. Last week, Chronicle subscriber Diane Williams posted on Nextdoor that we should place our recyclables loose in the bin because “the recycling plant does not have manpower to open each bag and dump out the items.” Williams said she was told this during a seminar that Republic Services offered at the library.

That advice sounded odd to me, but Rahil confirmed it.

“Placing recycling loose in the bin is the best way to recycle,” he said via email. “If residents place items in bags, it is an extra step for Republic because they have to open and inspect the bag before sending it to their state-of-the-art automated machines.”

Such guidance isn’t mentioned on the Trash & Recycling page on the city’s website, but I’ll take Rahil’s word for it, as he is Coppell’s point person on all things trash-related. At least I’ll save money on those blue recycling bags that are always so hard to find in grocery stores.

We Have Movement on Veterans Memorial

Slowly but surely, the idea of a veterans memorial in Coppell is advancing toward reality. At the same time, the concept is retreating from Town Center.

The City Council discussed the memorial yet again on Tuesday. Here are the two key takeaways from their latest debate:

The budget is being increased from $350,000 to $1.5 million.
A majority of the council wants the memorial to be built farther south in Town Center Plaza.

Let’s start with the money. Don Carroll, who requested Tuesday’s discussion, said $350,000 was a relatively small figure when you consider what Coppell is spending on other parks projects. He cited the $1.96 million budget for the Moore Road Park boardwalk, the $810,000 budget for renovations at Duck Pond Park, and the $414,000 budget for the Thweatt Park pond.

“We’ve made this statement about the dog park — that we didn’t do it right a decade ago. And that’s one of the things I want to avoid,” Carroll said. “I don’t want to come back and say, ‘We didn’t do it grandiose enough’ or ‘We didn’t do it appropriate enough for what it’s supposed to represent.’”

Before a consensus was reached on spending $1.5 million, Kevin Nevels said, “We need to make sure that we have a budget that is appropriate to show the reverence and respect that our veterans deserve.”

That reverence and respect is partly why Carroll, Nevels, and Jim Walker favor moving the memorial to the grass between the Coppell Justice Center and Town Center Elementary School, rather than having it be part of the amphitheater directly behind Town Center. Although the amphitheater doesn’t host many events these days, those council members didn’t want a memorial to preclude future use of the space. That dovetailed with concerns previously expressed by Brianna Hinojosa-Smith, who missed Tuesday’s discussion. A fourth council member, Mark Hill, eventually came around to the move.

Olsson Studio created two designs; one had the memorial along the top of the amphitheater, and the other placed it in the grass strip to the south. Mayor Pro Tem John Jun pointed out that two advisory groups — the Parks and Recreation Board and a task force comprised mostly of veterans — both favored the amphitheater design, but Nevels countered that the council often goes against such guidance.

(Case in point: Later on Tuesday, Nevels would be part of the contingent that voted against loosening carport regulations, an idea that was unanimously endorsed by Coppell’s Planning and Zoning Commission.)

“We’ve been given a recommendation,” Nevels said, “but sometimes we have a little bit different vision or more information about what we want to do with a particular piece, like maybe preserving the amphitheater.”

Jun wants to put the ball back in the task force’s court, and he also wants the vocal minority who think the memorial should be built in Andrew Brown Park East to get at least one more chance to vocalize that opinion. No other council members agreed, but Biju Mathew — a former member of the Parks and Recreation Board — lobbied to give that board another opportunity to explore what could be created with a bigger budget. Mayor Wes Mays liked that idea.

“Give them a number,” the mayor said, “and say, ‘Would this change your mind about what you would have done or how you would have done it?’”

Water Crisis ’23 by the Numbers

City Manager Mike Land delivered a thorough debrief of last month’s water crisis during Tuesday’s City Council meeting. After he talked for more than 12 minutes, the first question came from Mayor Pro Tem John Jun, who sarcastically asked, “Can you repeat that one more time?”

That led to some laughs, which were appropriate, because several council members mentioned how the city’s employees had smiles on their faces and kept their cool while distributing bottled water in extreme heat on June 28. The council thanked and praised Land and his staff for their grace under pressure.

(See “Information Flowed During Water Crisis” in Vol. 3, No. 19.)

I took a “by the numbers” approach to crisis coverage in the very first edition of this newsletter (see “Snowpocalypse ’21 by the Numbers” in Vol. 1, No. 1), and that formula still works. So here are some of the more interesting numbers from Land’s report:

14 million to 16 million gallons of water get pumped at the Village Parkway Pump Station on an average summer day.

36 inches is the diameter of the single pipe that delivers all of Coppell’s potable water from Dallas Water Utilities to the pump station.

33 years is the Village Parkway Pump Station’s age. Four of its six pumps have been in place since it opened in 1990; the other two were added in 1995.

270 days was the length of the contract awarded in October 2021 for the construction of a permanent backup generator at the pump station. Thanks to supply chain issues, 628 days have elapsed. The latest projected delivery date (July 24) is eight days away.

18 hours is the length of time it takes to test water before a boil notice can be lifted.

91 pallets of bottled water were delivered to Coppell on June 28. Once our crisis was over, about 40 of those pallets were sent to Commerce, which was in an even more severe situation.

“The water was put to good use in our community, and the water was very helpful to another community in the state as well,” Land said.

Chronicle Crumbs

• Last Tuesday, City Manager Mike Land told the City Council that a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the reconstructed South Belt Line Road could happen as early as this Tuesday. But don’t get too excited. “Even after the road is open, there’ll be times when the southbound inside lane is closed, because they’re still doing some work on the median and irrigation,” Land said.

• Coppell Nature Park and the Nature Explorer Playground at the Biodiversity Education Center will be closed for maintenance beginning July 24. The work should be completed by early August.

• Attention, bookworms: The City of Coppell has placed a want ad for a Cozby Library and Community Commons Manager. The posted salary range is between $76,000 and $110,000.

• On Monday, Coppell ISD announced that Chris Trotter is the district’s new Chief Operations Officer. His three-decade career as a Texas educator and administrator has included stints in Birdville ISD, Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, Denison ISD, Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD, San Antonio ISD, and Tomball ISD. His most recent gig was in Cleveland ISD, where he was superintendent.

• You know what Coppell ISD needs even more than a Chief Operations Officer? Cafeteria workers. These part-time jobs pay at least $15 per hour and include benefits. If you’re interested, click here and search for “cafeteria.”

• I haven’t received any text messages that made me doubt whether my child is still enrolled in Coppell ISD, but apparently many other CISD parents did receive such text messages from another district’s marketing department.

Community Calendar

National Ice Cream Day: Coppell’s Community Experiences Department will mark the occasion by giving out free ice cream sandwiches at The CORE starting at 1 p.m. today.

Young Frankenstein: Theatre Coppell will stage seven more performances of the musical based on Mel Brooks’ classic comedy. The next one is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. today at the Coppell Arts Center.

Silver Line Community Meeting: Representatives from DART and Archer Western Herzog, the contractor building the tracks for the transit agency’s Silver Line trains, will be at Town Hall, an event venue within The Sound in Cypress Waters, at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Wings of Fire Fest: Fans of the dragon-centric series of “Wings of Fire” novels are invited to stop by the Cozby Library and Community Commons for crafts, activities, and games between 2 and 3 p.m. on Wednesday. (This event had to be rescheduled due to our recent water crisis.)

Paint & Sip: Flamboyant Flamingo: The Coppell Arts Center offers an opportunity to wine up and wind down between 6 and 8 p.m. on Wednesday.

Next to Normal: Theatre Three will stage four performances of the award-winning rock musical about a family’s struggles with bipolar disorder. The first one is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Friday at the Coppell Arts Center.

The Inside Scoop: Beth Marie’s Ice Cream: Ken Willis, co-owner of Beth Marie’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream in Carrollton and Denton, will be at the Cozby Library and Community Commons at 2 p.m. on Saturday to discuss the challenges and rewards of the dessert business. This program is for adults.

Mindfulness Practice: Mindfulness facilitator Sheela Singla will guide participants in meditation between 2 and 3:30 p.m. on July 23 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons. Advance registration is required.

Dallas Zoo: Animals from the Dallas Zoo will be at the Cozby Library and Community Commons between 2 and 3 p.m. on July 25. Admission will be limited to children who will be in elementary school this fall. Younger siblings and parents will have to wait in another part of the library.

Storytime at Heritage Park: A Coppell Historical Society volunteer will read The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper at 10 a.m. on July 26 at the Minyard’s Store. The reading will be followed by a tour of the store and a children’s activity.

Mythology Academy: Fans of the Goddess Girls and Heroes in Training books are invited to celebrate all things mythological with crafts, games, and activities between 2 and 3 p.m. on July 26 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons.

Make a Bouncy Ball: Middle school students can learn how to make a bouncy ball by mixing together a few key ingredients between 5 and 7 p.m. on July 26 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons.

Let’s Learn Robotics: Students entering middle school or high school are invited to the Cozby Library and Community Commons between 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. on July 29, when they can learn how robots are built and get to interact with one.

Singing 101: The Coppell Community Chorale will offer a series of lessons on July 31 and Aug. 7 at the Coppell Arts Center. Participants can take two classes on each of those dates, at a cost of $35 per day.

Geocache Treasure Hunt: The Biodiversity Education Center will host this event for children ages 7 to 17 between 10 a.m. and noon on Aug. 2. Children must be supervised by an adult caregiver, and there is a $10 fee for each participant.

Author Q&A with Anita Kharbanda: The author of Lioness of Punjab will be at the Cozby Library and Community Commons at 4 p.m. on Aug. 2 to answer questions from middle school and high school students.

Guided Hike: The Friends of Coppell Nature Park will host a free guided hike focused on nature photography at 9 a.m. on Aug. 5. Participants should wear protective clothing and bring a bottle of water. Children must be supervised by an adult caregiver.

End of Summer Reading Celebration: Readers who have spent the summer with their noses in books are invited to celebrate their efforts at 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 5 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons, where there will be games, face painting, and free burgers.

Troop 842 50th Anniversary Celebration: Past and present Scouts and troop leaders are invited to mark 50 years of Troop 824 with speeches, skits, and games between 2 and 4 p.m. on Aug. 6 at First United Methodist Church.

North Texas Job Fair: Need a job? Coppell’s Wes Mays and Irving’s Rick Stopfer are among more than a dozen mayors who will co-host a job fair with U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Aug. 7 at the Irving Convention Center.

Four Day Weekend: The acclaimed improv comedy troupe will return to the Coppell Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 10.

Yoga in Nature: Advanced yoga therapist Latha Shanmugan will lead a class at 9 a.m. on Aug. 12 at the Biodiversity Education Center in Coppell Nature Park.