Coppell Chronicle Vol. 3, No. 31
District’s Board Flooded with Questions • Holmes Wants Blackberry Farm to be Gated • Water Slides Tower Will be Replaced • A User’s Guide to This Newsletter
District’s Board Flooded with Questions
Last Tuesday provided a completely new experience in my career as a journalist. Until that day, I had never covered a public hearing held in an apartment complex’s clubhouse. There were two such hearings on Tuesday, and because nobody bothered to turn down the clubhouse’s radio, these were also my first hearings with a pop-music soundtrack.
The hearings were on the proposed budget and tax rate for the Northwest Dallas County Flood Control District. Homeowners in this district pay extra taxes that most Coppell residents do not, and many of these taxpayers don’t understand why. Given their confusion, I found this appropriate: When Tuesday’s meeting was called to order, a song that repeatedly asks “what’s going on?” was playing on the radio.
I wasn’t the only person having a new experience in the Oaks Riverchase clubhouse on Tuesday. Wayne Reynolds, one of the district’s three directors, said he’d never seen more than two spectators at any of their meetings. This meeting, however, had an audience of 15, including your correspondent.
“You’re the first group to ever take the time to try to understand what we do,” Reynolds said, as George Michael crooned “I know you’re not a fool.”
I knew this meeting was scheduled only because I read a legal notice published in the Coppell Gazette. Some of the attendees said they heard about it from neighbors, perhaps because I mentioned the meeting in the Sept. 10 edition of this newsletter. After that mention, a subscriber pointed me to a link on the Dallas Central Appraisal District’s website that clearly delineates the flood control district’s boundaries.
As Glenn Frey advised everyone in the room to “take it easy,” Catherine Newnham decried the lack of transparency. She said the district’s only direct communications with its residents are postcards reminding them to pay their taxes. One longtime district resident said he often cruises by the Oaks complex just to check whether a meeting agenda had been taped to the clubhouse door.
Reynolds played devil’s advocate and asked how often people hear from other obscure taxing entities, such as the hospital district or the community college district. He also pointed out that the flood control district has a website, but Riverchase Owners Association president Michael Berezin complained that the site has very little information.
“We’ve never had this come up,” Reynolds said, and Newnham immediately explained why: “That’s because nobody knows about the meetings.”
As Steve Miller declared “I really love your peaches, wanna shake your tree,” Berezin tried to shake out some info on the district’s finances. Bookkeeper Chanda McCall said the district brings in about $2 million worth of taxes annually, and the majority of that money goes toward paying off the district’s bonds. There’s about $10 million worth of debt left on the books; McCall said it could be paid off in eight to 10 years.
McCall told Berezin that a copy of the district’s latest audit report could be found on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s website, but I couldn’t find it there, and neither could a spokesman for the TCEQ. That spokesman directed me to a different state agency, the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which did not immediately respond to my inquiry. Meanwhile, McCall emailed me a copy of the audit report, which you can download here:
Tex Schmidt, another member of the flood control district’s board, told Berezin and the other attendees that the district was created when a developer decided to build houses on the east side of Coppell in a 100-year floodplain. He said the Texas Legislature passed a law years ago that allowed developers to finance infrastructure by creating special taxing entities. These flood control districts, levee improvement districts, and municipal utility districts can issue bonds that are then paid off by property owners.
“It’s a creative way for a developer to finance improvements he would otherwise not be able to afford,” Schmidt said, as Steven Tyler implored us to “dream on.”
Reynolds explained that a recession began shortly after the Northwest Dallas County Flood Control District was created. The district went bankrupt, and only in the last few years has the board been able to refinance its bonds and make progress on debt reduction.
“Our unwritten goal, if you will, is to get the bonds paid down to the point that the city takes over the district,” Reynolds said.
The district’s third director is Bennett Ratliff, a former Coppell ISD trustee and state representative. He missed Tuesday’s meeting but told me via email, “I’m proud of our efforts to reduce the debt and the tax rate in the past few years. We’re on pace to eliminate the bond debt in only a few more years so we can hopefully reduce the taxes to only a few pennies a year or dissolve it completely.”
Most of the flood control district’s operational expenses concern removing sediment from ponds and culverts. The district pays an engineering firm called Kimley-Horn to manage that, as represented by a $114,500 line item in the budget approved on Tuesday. The same amount was budgeted for any repairs or maintenance deemed necessary by Kimley-Horn and the board.
“We have to be prepared for any major infrastructure issues that could occur,” Reynolds said.
Coppell has one other special taxing district (Denton County Levee Improvement District No. 1), and Irving has a few of them. Writing about these districts has been on my to-do list for a while. Last year, I asked a couple of local Realtors whether buyers are made aware of the extra taxes before they sign on the dotted line.
Jeff Hahn told me that once a home is under contract, the title company sends out a tax certificate that breaks things down. In some cases, he said, this may be the first time a buyer in a special taxing district is seeing the extra taxes as a line item. “But we educate our clients up front so there are no surprises,” Hahn said. “I can’t say that we’ve really seen someone not buy a home they loved because they found out it was in a special taxing district.”
Meanwhile, Laura Barnett showed me a “Notice to Purchasers” form that she adds to any MLS listing for a property in the flood control district. “Our policy is that this form must be signed by the buyer in order for their offer to be accepted,” she said.
On Tuesday, Reynolds and Schmidt formally approved a tax rate of 27.565 cents per $100 of valuation, a 3.2 percent drop from the previous rate of 28.49 cents. To put that rate in perspective, the appraised value of my home on the west side of Coppell is $372,100. If my property were magically moved to the flood control district, my next tax bill would have an extra $1,025 tacked onto it.
As John Mellencamp pleaded with his baby to “make it hurt so good,” Joan Capezzuto detailed the pain of paying about $20,000 worth of taxes to the district since buying her home nearly 22 years ago. For many of those years, she knew nothing about the district’s activities or finances.
“There was no one to contact,” she said. “No one knew anything.”
Eventually, Pete Eckert, the district’s general counsel, agreed to send notices of future meetings to Berezin so he can share them with his neighbors. Somebody pointed out that a homeowner would have to be signed up for the HOA’s emails to see a notice, but Berezin replied, “That’s still 600 more people than are seeing it right now.”
Holmes Wants Blackberry Farm to be Gated
There’s only one gated subdivision in Coppell, but we may end up with a second private neighborhood if Terry Holmes gets his way.
Holmes has been planning the Blackberry Farm development on Sandy Lake Road for more than two decades, and dirt finally started turning in 2021. On Thursday, Holmes was back in front of the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission, making the case for barricading the neighborhood where he and his extended family plan to live someday.
Because Blackberry Farm is being built on the edge of Coppell, Holmes said, he’s dealt with more thefts and dumping than he’s experienced with other projects. “It’s unlike the core of our city,” he said. Although no Blackberry Farm lots have been sold yet, Holmes said, prospective buyers have repeatedly asked whether a gate was a possibility.
That decision lies with the City Council, who are expected to consider Holmes’ request for a gate next month. If they approve it, maintenance of the streets within Blackberry Farm — as well as the development’s bridge over Denton Creek — would no longer be the city’s responsibility. That burden would fall on a yet-to-be-formed homeowners association, just as the HOA for the Fairways at Riverchase, the only gated subdivision in Coppell at the moment, is responsible for that neighborhood’s streets.
“Typically, we would be opposed to a private street, because the streets tie into the grid pattern of the city,” Development Services Administrator Matt Steer told the commissioners on Thursday. But Blackberry Farm’s streets “are out on their own. These are only serving this one subdivision, so this one’s kind of a one-off that we can support.”
Henry Tate — who moved to Coppell in 1969 and has lived on Sandy Lake, not far from Blackberry Farm, for the past dozen years — spoke during Thursday’s public hearing. He didn’t explicitly say he was against the gate, but he told the commissioners, “Never had anything taken; never had anything disturbed. … Coppell is still a pretty safe place.”
However, Jeff Varnell pointed out to the commissioners that privacy gates are not uncommon on the east end of Sandy Lake. He has one at his Trinity River Kayak Company. The St. Joseph Village retirement community has one. And the Sandy Lake estate owned by Raj and Kavitha Akula, which sits between Blackberry Farm and Tate’s properties, does too.
Speaking of the Akulas, they were opposed to a secondary part of Holmes’ request. The current plans for Blackberry Farm call for a farmhouse and garden near the entrance, on a lot adjacent to the Akulas’ property. Holmes wanted to convert that into an amenity center featuring a pool, a grill station, a bocce court, and two pickleball courts.
As you might imagine, the Akulas are not big fans of these new plans.
“They’re not looking to live next door to a commercial, resort-like area for large gatherings, which would be disruptive to their day-to-day lives,” Senior Planner Mary Paron-Boswell told the commissioners.
The city also received negative feedback from a few residents of the Lakewood Estates neighborhood to the west, who already have to listen to a barrage of artillery from the Dallas Gun Club. These folks didn’t relish also hearing the pitter-patter of pickleball paddles.
I’ve been watching Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission meetings for more than two years, and I can’t recall the city’s staff recommending denial of a proposed zoning change before Thursday. But they made such a recommendation regarding the amenity center, primarily due to the Akulas’ opposition.
The recommendation was moot, though, because Holmes tabled that portion of his request. “I wouldn’t even want to try to press that without having their full acceptance,” he said in reference to the Akulas. Meanwhile, all but one of the commissioners endorsed his plan for a gate; the outlier was Freddie Guerra, who said, “It just doesn’t reflect what the community is.”
The City Council will have the final say on Oct. 10, when they should also consider …
• A permit for a short-term rental on Bradford Drive, where Airbnb “Superhosts” Marcia and Steve Allen have made extra money for years by allowing guests to stay in their spare bedroom. A majority of the commissioners endorsed the Allens’ permit application. The dissenting vote was cast by Vice Chair Glenn Portman, who also lives on Bradford.
(I chuckled when Marcia Allen explained that most guests stay just one night. “We don’t get very many people who do vacations,” she said with a smile, “because Coppell isn’t really a vacation location.” I don’t expect that quote to be incorporated into the “Discover Coppell” campaign anytime soon.)
• A zoning change for a property on Mullrany Drive so owner John Wittenberg can have a pool installed less than 5 feet from his house. The building permit is contingent on the city receiving either a letter from an engineer stating that the pool will not adversely affect the house’s foundation or engineered plans for reinforcing one or both foundations. The commissioners unanimously endorsed this change.
• An amendment to the city’s Code of Ordinances that would allow any homeowner to follow Wittenberg’s lead and install a pool close to their house if they obtain engineered plans or a letter from an engineer. Chief Building Official Steve Schubert said this change would align Coppell’s policy with those of neighboring cities. All of the commissioners endorsed this as well.
Water Slides Tower Will be Replaced
My family did not patronize the outdoor pools at The CORE this year until Labor Day, the final day of the season. That’s when I found out the facility’s pair of two-story water slides had been closed all summer.
The slides themselves are fine, but the concrete stairs used to access them need to be replaced. On Sept. 12, the Coppell City Council approved a $219,000 contract with Aquatech Solutions America. The firm will replace the platforms and stairs with fiberglass strip shims, “a material that is more durable and will require less maintenance than the existing concrete material,” according to a memo from Director of Community Experiences Jessica Carpenter and Aquatics Supervisor Trinity Klepzig.
That memo says the tower was built in 2000. The Coppell Recreation Development Corporation Board approved a $50,000 refurbishment last year, but an annual inspection for insurance purposes led to a quadrupling of the budget.
“That inspection revealed you probably have some things going on that are beyond a simple cosmetic replacement or refurbishment,” Carpenter told the Coppell Recreation Development Corporation Board on Monday.
Nearly 70 percent of this project ($152,174) will come from the Coppell Recreation Development Corporation, which is funded by sales tax. The remaining $66,826 will come from the Recreational Programs Special Revenue Fund, an older account that Carpenter said the city is trying to exhaust.
The new structure is supposed to be in place before next summer. Klepzig said its lifespan is estimated at 25 to 30 years, but it could last long as 50 years with “diligent maintenance.” (Personal aside: I’ve lasted nearly that long, and I didn’t get diligent about my maintenance until a few years ago.)
The slides’ tower was one of several items on the City Council’s Sept. 12 consent agenda, including a few items related to topics covered in previous Coppell Chronicle articles. With a single motion, the council also approved …
• A $4.8 million contract with Reliable Paving to reconstruct Woodhurst Drive. The project is supposed to start in October and last about 11 months. That ought to go over really well with neighborhood residents who are already enduring the renovation of Duck Pond Park. Carpenter’s latest monthly memo to the Parks and Recreation Board said that renovation was about 55 percent complete. (See “Upgrades Approved for Duck Pond Park” in Vol. 1, No. 39.)
• A $358,144 contract with the Coppell Chamber of Commerce to continue facilitating the “Discover Coppell” marketing campaign in fiscal 2024, which begins on Oct. 1. This money will come from the Hotel Occupancy Tax Fund. (See “‘Discover Coppell’ Campaign to Continue” in Vol. 2, No. 47.)
• An agreement for the developer of the Victory Shops at Coppell to reimburse the city $344,467, which represents 25 percent of the costs of installing a new traffic signal at Hackberry Drive and South Belt Line Road plus paving and drainage improvements near the development. (See “Victory Shops Trigger New Traffic Signals” in Vol. 3, No. 19.)
• A $186,761 contract with Olsson Studio to design a veterans memorial in Town Center Plaza. This money will come from the Coppell Recreation Development Corporation. (See “We Have Movement on Veterans Memorial” in Vol. 3, No. 21.)
• A $50,000 contract with the Denton County Transportation Authority to continue facilitating subsidized Lyft rides for commuters in fiscal 2024. This money will come from the General Fund. (See “Coppell to Keep Helping Commuters via Lyft” in Vol. 3, No. 29.)
A User’s Guide to This Newsletter
A subscriber who is near and dear to me recently admitted that she wasn’t aware that the Coppell Chronicle has a website. As soon as I hit the button that sent this edition to your inbox, it also got posted at CoppellChronicle.substack.com. First-time visitors will need to establish a password for full access. Check out this menu across the top:
Tags: My corporate partners at Substack allow me to tag certain editions if they pertain to topics that I’ve written about multiple times. That’s why you see Blackberry Farm, Arts Center, and Short-Term Rentals on that menu. Other tags I’ve created pertain to Coppell ISD bonds, DART’s Silver Line, Irving’s trash situation, and Old Town Coppell. Does anybody want to suggest any others?
Archive: If you want to see anything I’ve written about a certain topic or person, click the magnifying glass icon and type a word, phrase, or name into the search bar. For example, a search for “Matt Steer” — the name of Coppell’s chief planner — brings up results going back to this newsletter’s debut edition.
Notes: Substack created a product that allows authors like yours truly to share short blurbs with readers between full editions of our newsletters. It’s like Twitter, without all of the pornography and antisemitism. Here are some of my recent Notes.
Corrections: If I get something wrong, please let me know. The easiest way to do so is by replying to any emailed edition. When I make a mistake, I want to correct the posted version, add a comment under the posted version highlighting the edit, and also mention the correction in the next edition. You’re about to read one of those corrections.
Subscriptions: If you hear from me every Sunday, then you’re a paid subscriber at a cost of either $5 per month or $30 per year. If you hear from me only on the final Sunday of the month (like today), then you’re a free subscriber. At the moment, I have about 800 paid subscribers and an additional 1,200 free subscribers. My goal is to eventually reach 3,000 paid subscribers, which would represent less than 10 percent of Coppell’s population. That seems doable, right?
Chronicle Crumbs
• CORRECTION: In the emailed version of last week’s edition, I reported that the Coppell City Council voted 6-0 to approve a short-term rental on Kaye Street. The actual tally was 5-1, with Jim Walker — who has publicly compared short-term rentals to fungi — being the lone naysayer.
• The City of Coppell lifted its Stage 2 watering restrictions last Monday, meaning residents and businesses are free to run their sprinklers on any day of the week. But the Stage 1 restrictions, which prohibit any watering between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., remain in effect.
• On Thursday, the Dallas City Council approved a property tax rate of 73.57 cents per $100 of valuation. Big D was the final city that overlaps with Coppell ISD to approve a tax rate for the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1. The others, in reverse chronological order, were Lewisville (41.91 cents on Monday), Irving (58.91 cents on Sept. 14), and Coppell (49.18 cents on Aug. 22).
• Starting tomorrow, DART’s Silver Line contractors are going to close portions of the intersection of Fairway Drive and East Belt Line Road. Click here for more details.
• On Sept. 14, the Irving City Council had the first of two required readings of a revised ordinance regarding solid waste. The revised ordinance calls for the monthly collection fees to increase by $2.75; most residents and places of worship would pay $35.25 per month, and businesses would pay $45.75. The second reading is scheduled for Oct. 12. Assuming the council approves the ordinance, twice-weekly collection of garbage will resume in December.
• Satish Malhotra, CEO of The Container Store, is taking a 10 percent pay cut to accommodate raises for employees of the Coppell company. The Dallas Morning News reported that his new base salary will be $832,000.
• Haraz Coffee House is coming to the northwest corner of MacArthur Boulevard and Valley Ranch Parkway, according to a form filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. It will take over a space previously branded as “Elegance Boutique/Perfumes/Cellphones/Gifts.” When that wide-ranging store recently moved to the southeast corner of MacArthur and Belt Line Road, its owner announced a new offering: bridal couture.
Community Calendar
Assistance League of Coppell Informational Social: Learn about the league’s programs and plans to continue serving the Coppell community at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday at the Cozby Library and Community Commons.
Intuitive Eating: Dietitian Kathryn Martinez will be at the Cozby Library and Community Commons at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday to discuss why finding pleasure in food is so important to having an eating plan you can stick with.
Boys Soccer Community Tailgate: The Coppell High School boys soccer program wants to serve you dinner between 5:30 and 7 p.m. on Friday, before the varsity football team plays Lewisville at Buddy Echols Field. For $5, you can get a burger or hot dog, chips, and a drink. If you pay $10, you can upgrade your entree to a pulled pork sandwich.
The Mousetrap: Theatre Coppell will stage nine performances of Agatha Christie’s murder mystery in the Wheelice Wilson Jr. Theatre at the Coppell Arts Center, starting this Friday.
Old Town Coppell Car Show: The Coppell Historical Museum plans to showcase vintage vehicles between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Sunset Social — Music in Old Town: A band called The Wonderfuls will perform at 7 p.m. on Saturday, when a few food trucks will cruise into Old Town Coppell.
Stuart Gibbs: The author of several best-selling children’s books, including Spy School, will be at the Coppell Arts Center between 1 and 3 p.m. on Oct. 1.
Kaleidoscope: Coppell’s festival of color, culture, and music will happen from 3 to 7 p.m. on Oct. 7 in Old Town.
Hit Like a Girl: The Coppell Police Department will offer a free self-defense class for women from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Oct. 14 and 21 at Life Safety Park. The class size is limited, so registration is required.
I would love to see a detailed breakdown of where the money went and is going for the Discover Coppell campaign. All I see is a lot of the same photos being posted on FB and IG. With this additional funding I think we're well over the $1000 per "Facebook like" cost!
WOW! There’s lots going on. I had to take 2 days to read all the info bc I had company.
I enjoyed your fun take on the meeting with the background music.
I hope you are getting g more subscribers because all this info is important to know!
Keep up the great reporting!