Coppell Chronicle Vol. 3, No. 35

Short-Term Rental Has Long List of Issues • Senior Living Proposed Near DART Bridge • Voters to Consider Amendments and Bonds • Coppell Lacrosse Eyes More Exposure

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You can help the Coppell Chronicle become a more sustainable business by forwarding this edition to a friend or sharing it on social media. The first article will be outside the paywall, and that article is a doozy.

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Short-Term Rental Has Long List of Issues

This house on Crestview Court has been listed on Airbnb since 2019.

There’s a home on Crestview Court that neighborhood kids used to call “the castle house.” Over the years, that castle has lost its luster.

The city’s Code Compliance Division has fielded several complaints about this property. The issues have ranged from high grass and weeds to overgrown tree limbs and outdoor storage, including building materials blocking the sidewalk. Additionally, there have been reports of roosters and chickens.

The Coppell Police Department is also familiar with this home. Since the property last changed hands in 2017, the cops have been called more than 15 times for a variety of reasons: suspicious activity and criminal mischief, including nudity and slashed tires; heavy traffic and parking violations; and noise complaints, including loud arguments and the production of at least one music video. Most if not all of these issues stem from the house being listed on Airbnb as a short-term rental.

Given that history, I expected Thursday’s public hearing on the owners’ application for a short-term-rental permit to be a raucous affair. I expected to see a long line of neighbors airing grievances. I expected vigorous denials of the various infractions laid out in a city planner’s report. And I expected the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission to grill the applicants about the alleged activities at their home.

My expectations were not met.

Only two neighbors signed up to speak during the public hearing, and we easily could have had none. Barbara Davidson admitted she was there only because she didn’t know she could have registered her opposition in writing. Davidson has lived a block north of the Crestview castle for three decades.

“It just doesn’t seem like a good thing to have in a single-family-zoned neighborhood,” she said. “When we bought back in ’92, it was all single-family homes, and I had no idea we were going to have mini-hotels sometime in the future.”

The other neighbor who spoke in opposition, Greg Frnka, was there to represent a client during another hearing. Frnka said he used to stroll around Crestview Court while walking his dog, but he avoids the cul-de-sac these days due to the number of cars, the intermittently blocked sidewalk, and all the junk visible in the applicants’ garage.

“It just depreciates everybody’s home value in the neighborhood,” Frnka said.

The Crestview castle is owned by Shahid Aziz and his wife, Salma Shaikh. In a letter to the city, Aziz said they turned to Airbnb as a revenue stream after their three sons moved out and stopped pitching in on the mortgage.

That letter says they rent out only two rooms, but Senior Planner Mary Paron-Boswell showed the commissioners an Airbnb listing that touts three. She also displayed a guest’s review that referenced “room 7” as the “economy room.”

“I’m not sure how you rent out ‘room 7’ of a five-bedroom house,” Paron-Boswell told the commissioners.

One possible explanation for that math problem: During a recent inspection of the property, when city employees were granted access to only two bedrooms, they noticed an illegal addition on the rear of the house. Paron-Boswell said the city has no record of permits or inspections for this structure. “Staff has no idea what the building is being used for,” she said.

When Aziz spoke to the commission, he did not address the mysterious addition or the police reports. He focused instead on the unkempt landscaping plus Paron-Boswell’s statement about multiple smoke detectors being broken, jerry-rigged, or missing.

“I understand some codes are not met,” Aziz said. “But it’s not a big thing. We can fix it.”

I was hoping that one or more of the five commissioners in attendance would ask Aziz specific questions about the nudity or the poultry or the music video. (Examples: What was the artist’s name? What was the song’s title? Did the video feature any chickens?) Alas, the only question came from Chair Edmund Haas: “I’ve seen the police reports, the code issues — just generally, what’s going on?”

Aziz’s response focused on the smoke detectors and the lawn. “I promise that we will fix it, and this will not be an issue,” he said.

That was apparently not enough to convince the commissioners, who unanimously voted to recommend denial of the couple’s permit application. Aziz and Shaikh will have an opportunity to win over the City Council on Nov. 14, but I don’t like their chances.

The commissioners took a few more 5-0 votes on Thursday:

• They recommended approval of a zoning change for a 17.7-acre property on the north side of State Highway 121, between Business 121 and the Coppell Greens neighborhood. That’s where a company called Lovett Industrial aims to build a 257,600-square-foot warehouse augmented by a pair of two-story office buildings. The City Council will have the final say on Nov. 14.

• They recommended approval of a zoning change for the strip of live-work units that Chris Collins is constructing on South Coppell Road. The current zoning calls for professional office uses, with a medical office permitted in one of the five buildings. If the council approves Collins’ request on Nov. 14, retail/service businesses would be allowed in each building. (By the way, Collins said he has three of the five properties under contract.)

• They approved a request from former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Anthony Spencer to divide his 4.2-acre estate on Deforest Road into two lots. This is a done deal, because the City Council does not consider replat requests.

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Senior Living Proposed Near DART Bridge

The commissioners considered one other case on Thursday, and they were divided on this one. As with a lot things involving real estate, it all came down to location, location, location.

The owner of several adjacent properties on South Belt Line Road is asking for zoning changes associated with his plans to construct an L-shaped building. This structure would be four stories tall and contain 120 apartments that would be restricted to residents who are at least 55 years old. Here’s a schematic to help you visualize it:

The building’s footprint is blue, and its driveway is red. The green area is an Atmos easement.

The L-shaped building would be both south and east of Armando’s Tacos and Bimmer Motor Specialists. A Chase bank is also to the south, and the elevated tracks for DART’s Silver Line trains are to the north. In fact, the plans call for the building’s north end to be less than 30 yards from those tracks. Consequently, the city’s planners recommended adding a condition that the interior noise cannot exceed 55 decibels. (A maximum of 55 decibels and a minimum of 55 years? A coincidence, I’m sure.)

(See “DART Buying Land for Silver Line” in Vol. 1, No. 25.)

Coppell resident Vijay Borra has owned the land for 10 years. His software company, Paramount Global Solutions, occupied a building due north of Armando’s Tacos until DART acquired that parcel through eminent domain and demolished it. When commissioners questioned his goal of creating a senior-living community, he described it as the best option for his land.

“The retail will not fly at this site,” Borra said. “We had to do something creative. And I think, if you look at the demographics of Coppell, a lot of people in the next five years, 10 years, that is where they are going to head.”

Borra said active seniors who want to downsize don’t have many options in Coppell. That’s partly why the City Council created the Future Oriented Approach to Residential Development Task Force a few years ago. Development Services Administrator Matt Steer said the task force has not vetted Borra’s project, but it supports this type of development. Steer also said 70 percent of the 925 Coppell residents who participated in the task force’s recent survey said “active adult community living” would be very desirable or somewhat desirable.

(See “City Considers Funding Senior Village” in Vol. 3, No. 2.)

Speaking of active seniors, Borra said his Lake Breeze Senior Living community would be within walking distance of Old Town, but Commission Chair Edmund Haas wasn’t buying that.

“Old Town Coppell? You’re not walking to Old Town Coppell from here,” Haas said in disbelief.

Borra lives on Mango Court, a cul-de-sac near Pinkerton Elementary School that he said was developed by another one of his companies, DFW Land. He assured Haas that distance could be traversed on foot in a matter of minutes.

“I live on the same street, so I know, it’s not too far,” he said.

In the end, Haas remained unconvinced. He voted to recommend denial.

“The location is not optimal, in my mind,” Haas said. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Commissioner Kent Hafemann sided with Haas: “It feels like we shoehorned 120 apartment units into a really awkward site. And it feels more like an apartment project than it does a senior-housing project.”

The other three commissioners in attendance — Sue Blankenship, Ed Maurer, and Glenn Portman — voted to recommend approval. The ultimate decision lies with the City Council on Nov. 14.

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Voters to Consider Amendments and Bonds

Another election cranks up tomorrow with the start of early voting. You could be forgiven for letting this one slip off your radar, as most ballots won’t feature the names of any candidates. Instead, we’ll be asked to consider 14 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution.

I’ve seen yard signs encouraging voters to endorse Proposition 9, which would provide some retired teachers with cost-of-living raises to their monthly pension checks. And I received a flyer from the Texas Farm Bureau touting the benefits of Proposition 1, which would raise the bar for state and local regulation of generally accepted farming and ranching practices. I stole those summaries from one of my fellow LION Publishers, the Texas Tribune, which published a breakdown of all 14 propositions.

Meanwhile, I compiled this spreadsheet of the recommendations published by the editorial boards of the daily newspapers in our largest cities: The Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle, the San Antonio Express-News, the Austin American-Statesman, and the El Paso Times.

Do you see how every paper except the Morning News recommends voting against Proposition 3? Here’s how it will appear on your ballot: “The constitutional amendment prohibiting the imposition of an individual wealth or net worth tax, including a tax on the difference between the assets and liabilities of an individual or family.”

This is an excerpt from the Morning News’ recommendation: “This constitutional change amounts to an affirmation of the state’s long-standing support of economic self-determination. … A wealth tax has never been a serious proposal in Texas, but voter approval would make it more difficult for the Legislature to consider enacting such a tax, which some say would stifle investment and innovation.”

And here’s how the American-Statesman summed up their opposition: “Why we need an amendment to take a tax that doesn’t exist off the table isn’t explained. Keeping the option of a wealth tax open is a necessity, should state lawmakers need to explore such a tax to fund needs in the future.”

Some Coppell residents will have longer ballots than the rest of us. The entire Coppell Greens neighborhood is in Lewisville ISD, as are some homes in the East Lake and Westhaven subdivisions along State Highway 121. Residents of that school district will consider a tax rate plus six bond propositions with a combined value of $1.23 billion. Lewisville ISD has created an extensive website about this election that says its tax rate will drop by 10.6 cents even if voters approve all seven propositions.

Meanwhile, if you live east of Denton Tap Road and north of Denton Creek, then you reside in Denton County Levee Improvement District No. 1. That district’s directors — Ben Carruthers, Richard Ching, and Jack Davis — have authorized a ballot measure that calls for “the issuance of $27,320,000 in bonds and $40,980,000 in refunding bonds.” This document provides more information on all that.

DCLID1 Order Calling Bond Election

124KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Dallas County residents can vote early at Coppell Town Center, while the Thrive Recreation Center in Lewisville is the closest option for early voters who reside in the Denton County portion of Coppell. Click here to review the various times and dates the polls will be open.

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Coppell Lacrosse Eyes More Exposure

During his annual report to the Coppell Parks and Recreation Board, Coppell Lacrosse Association President Brooks Carter said something interesting about participation levels. His organization aims to have close to 300 players, but they have about 200 at the moment. Although he was not advocating for returning games and practices to Andrew Brown Park Central, Carter tied the decrease to when they moved to stadiums at the Coppell High School Ninth Grade Campus and Coppell Middle School North.

“It’s not visible,” he said during the board’s Oct. 2 meeting. “Mom and Dad aren’t driving by and going, ‘Oh,’ and somebody’s looking out the window — boy or girl — going, ‘I think that looks real interesting. I’d like to try it.’”

Coincidentally, the Coppell Lacrosse Association has two recruiting events coming up: a team dinner at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday at JC’s Burger Bar, and a roundup clinic from 3 to 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 5 at Coppell Middle School North.

One other interesting aspect of Carter’s presentation: Last May, Coppell hosted the state tournaments for the Texas High School Lacrosse League and the Texas Girls High School Lacrosse League. This was the first time one city was the site for both leagues’ championships, Carter said, and a few local restaurants told him they saw a 65-percent spike in business that weekend.

In other sports news …

Tennis: Coppell High School’s varsity co-ed team progressed to the regional tournament by defeating McKinney Boyd in the first round of the playoffs, Highland Park in the second round, and Flower Mound in the third round. Unfortunately, they lost to Southlake Carroll in the semifinals on Thursday.

Cross country: Coppell High School’s varsity boys team won a second straight district championship on Oct. 13, when Henry Henze finished first overall with a time of 15:35. He was joined in the top 10 by teammates Samarth Dubey (5th, 15:58), Rohit Kalpathy (8th, 16:07), and Pranav Vegiraju (9th, 16:10). Up next is the regional meet on Tuesday in Lubbock, where the Cowboys will be accompanied by two members of Coppell’s varsity girls team: Maya Easterwood (4th, 18:34) and Mallory Sherrer (10th, 19:15).

Football: In case you haven’t been paying attention, the Coppell High School varsity team is undefeated, with a record of 8-0 or 7-0, depending on whom you ask. (One of their pre-district games was canceled at halftime due to lightning, but they were leading 21-14 at the time.) The Cowboys’ final home game is set for 7 p.m. on Friday, when they will host Flower Mound at Buddy Echols Field. Their regular-season finale will be on Nov. 3 in Plano.

Volleyball: The varsity Cowgirls will close the regular season on Tuesday with a 6:30 p.m. match against Plano in the Coppell High School Arena.

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Chronicle Crumbs

• Tuesday’s Coppell City Council meeting will include a public hearing regarding a tax-abatement deal with Welbilt, a company that makes appliances for commercial kitchens. The firm is considering moving its headquarters from New Port Richey, Fla., to the building on the northeast corner of Sandy Lake Road and Royal Lane. To help close the deal, Coppell may offer an eight-year, 75-percent abatement on the city’s portion of taxes on furniture, fixtures, and equipment; an eight-year, 90-percent abatement on the city’s portion of real property taxes; and a cash grant of $250,000.

• My pesky day job prevented me from attending Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Moore Road Park boardwalk. Fortunately, the city’s communications specialists published their own in-depth article about it.

• Good news for residents of Magnolia Park: Coppell’s Community Experiences Department is finally soliciting bids from contractors who want to reconstruct the Magnolia Park Trail. (See “Magnolia Park Trail’s Path Finally Set” in Vol. 1, No. 49.) An informational meeting for contractors is set for 11 a.m. on Nov. 2, and bids will be accepted until 11 a.m. on Nov. 9.

• The Coppell ISD Education Foundation’s Give for Grants campaign is up and running. Teachers throughout the district have submitted grant requests, and you can choose which one (or ones) you would like to fund. For example, a teacher at my beloved Denton Creek Elementary School wants to buy a STEAM presentation called “Superhero Academy Science Night.” Click here to peruse the proposals. The deadline to contribute is Nov. 3.

• New businesses roundup: Fogo de Chão will start serving Brazilian steaks at 3080 Ranch Trail in Irving tomorrow. That property is within Coppell ISD. … I noticed construction activity at the former Barnes & Noble site in Lewisville. According to the leasing brochure for Vista Ridge Village, that space is being divided in half, with one side reserved for a Skechers store. … A banner hanging at Valley Ranch Centre, the shopping center on the southeast corner of MacArthur Boulevard and Belt Line Road, heralds the impending arrival of The Little Gym.

• Interesting things I read in The Dallas Morning News last week: Several chambers of commerce throughout North Texas, including the Coppell Chamber of Commerce, are opposed to education vouchers. … An Arizona-based business called Pickleball Kingdom plans to set up shop in two of Coppell’s neighboring cities, Grapevine and Flower Mound. … Another one of Coppell’s neighboring cities, Lewisville, does not regulate short-term rentals, but officials there are thinking about doing so.

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Community Calendar

Spooktacular: The Coppell Community Orchestra will open its season with a family-friendly show filled with spooky music, costumes, and candy. The music will begin at 3 p.m. today in the Main Hall at the Coppell Arts Center.

State of the District Showcase: Coppell ISD Superintendent Brad Hunt, the Board of Trustees, administrators, parents, and students will highlight the district’s accomplishments and goals between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the Coppell High School Cafeteria Commons.

Halloween Family Fun Night: The Cozby Library and Community Commons staff invites families with young children to enjoy stories, games, and a spooktacular time between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Town Center Plaza.

Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind: Actors from the Coppell High School Ninth Grade Campus will stage Greg Allen’s collection of mini-plays at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Halloween 5K and Fun Run: The Coppell Running Club’s inaugural races in Cypress Waters will benefit a variety of Coppell ISD programs. The fun run starts at 8 a.m. on Saturday, followed by the 5K at 8:30.

Scare on the Square: Businesses throughout Old Town Coppell will pass out candy between 9 a.m. and noon on Oct. 28.

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day: The Coppell Police Department will collect your unwanted medications between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday.

Flick or Treat: Families can load up on candy in The CORE’s parking lot starting at 5 p.m. on Saturday before heading into Andrew Brown Park East for an outdoor screening of Hotel Transylvania.

New Tech Haunted House: New Tech High at Coppell will be scarier than normal between 7 and 10:30 p.m. on Saturday. That event overlaps with the school’s Fall Festival, which is scheduled from 5:30 to 8 p.m.

Dracula: Coppell-based Ballet Ensemble of Texas will perform the story of the world’s most famous vampire at 6 p.m. on Oct. 29 at the Irving Arts Center.

Coppell Cowgirls Soccer Trunk or Treat: The soccer program will raise funds by hosting an event featuring games, pumpkin decorating, and prizes between 6 and 8 p.m. on Oct. 29 in the Coppell High School fieldhouse parking lot.

Indie Author Fair: The Cozby Library and Community Commons will host an event that brings independent authors and their potential readers together between 1 and 4 p.m. on Nov. 4.

Taste of Coppell: The Coppell Chamber of Commerce’s showcase of local restaurants will happen between 4 and 7 p.m. on Nov. 4 at the Four Points by Sheraton hotel.