Coppell Chronicle Vol. 4, No. 26
City Braces for Potential Influx of Homeless • Neighbors Strongly Oppose Short-Term Rentals • Coppell ISD Cuts Distinct Gifted Courses • Council Declines ‘11th Hour’ Budget Tweaks
This is the fourth and final edition featuring a contribution from intern Samantha Handshy, who is furiously packing in advance of her freshman year at UT-San Antonio. While preparing to move to her new home away home, she filed an article about people who find themselves without a home.
City Braces for Potential Influx of Homeless
With growing numbers of people living on the streets in neighboring cities, Coppell officials are engaging with Metrocrest Services to ensure homelessness does not become an issue in our town.
On July 23, Director of Program Development Melanie Meijering talked to the City Council about Metrocrest’s work in the Coppell area. She said the Carrollton-based charity worked with 547 homeless people in the last calendar year; six were known to be “Coppell specific.” Meijering also said a total of 775 Coppell residents were served in various ways.
“Whether that was food pantry, whether it was rent and utilities, it could be that they were coming in for financial counseling, for jobs, and it could be that they were people that were living on the streets,” Meijering said.
Meijering told the council it is important to understand that “homelessness is not a lifestyle; it’s an emergency.” She said 30 percent of Americans can’t cover a $400 emergency expense, and 78 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. “So it doesn’t take very much for them to end up living in their car or living in the streets,” she said.
The impending arrival of DART’s Cypress Waters Station along East Belt Line Road will connect Coppell directly to Dallas, where at least 5,000 people are living on the streets every day. Although it is unknown whether the Silver Line trains will lead to a new dispersion of homelessness, it has continued to be a concern.
“People will say, ‘Well, we [Coppell] don’t have a problem with homelessness,’” Meijering said, “but it only takes one person that’s living on the sidewalk or sleeping on the sidewalk to alarm people, because it’s scary, it’s unknown, and people don’t know how to deal with that.”
Meijering’s presentation was not the only time homelessness was discussed at a City Council meeting this summer. On June 11, Mayor Wes Mays attended a meeting of the Metroplex Mayors Association, where he learned there are more than 400 encampments within Dallas’ city limits. Later that day, Mays told the council that he and Carrollton Mayor Steve Babick volunteered to act in an advisory role on behalf of outlying cities.
“I look forward to working with the mayor on seeing what we can do to mitigate any type of homeless migration from downtown Dallas to our community as DART begins to roll out,” Mays said.
On July 9, Mays reported on his June trip to Missouri for the United States Conference of Mayors’ annual meeting, where homelessness was also a major topic.
“The large-city mayors are really struggling with this,” Mays said. “We are concerned, as Dallas approaches the homeless problem there, that we may see some overflow, and we are continuing to talk to our neighboring cities about that.”
In March of 2023, Meijering participated in a program at the Cozby Library and Community Commons regarding homelessness in Coppell ISD. Jennifer Villines, who was the district’s Director of Student and Staff Services at the time, said Coppell ISD’s homeless population peaked at 70 students during the 2022-2023 school year. Some were residing in hotels near DFW Airport, but Villines said there were documented cases of students “sleeping in Andy Brown Park.”
Coppell ISD Director of Communications Amanda Simpson said the district had 76 students who qualified for services under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act during the 2023-2024 school year.
(See “Even in Coppell, Homelessness Persists” in Vol. 3, No. 5.)
Following Meijering’s July 23 presentation, Council Member Biju Mathew — who serves on Metrocrest’s Board of Directors — asked her to explain how the charity works with the Coppell Police Department concerning the homeless.
“What we do with all of the cities that we serve is if there is a concern and the police officers want some help, we will go out and meet them with the folks where they live, and see what we can do to help get them off the streets,” Meijering said. “We also have officers that will bring folks over to Metrocrest … so we can start engaging in that kind of relationship.”
Volunteers are essential for all the good Metrocrest can provide around the community. Meijering said there are 14 volunteers who help with homeless outreach each week, including four Coppell residents.
“We couldn’t do the work that we do without volunteers, and that’s something that we’re always looking for,” Meijering said. “Who’s willing to go out there and just say, ‘Hey, I see you as a human. What can we do for you?’”
If you want to work alongside Meijering and Metrocrest, you can click here to learn more.
Neighbors Strongly Oppose Short-Term Rentals
More than 40 people showed up for a meeting of the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday, when there was only one case on the agenda — a short-term rental permit for a house on Oakbend Drive.
This house briefly had such a permit, but it was revoked in 2022 due to a variety of violations. Owner Scott Young appealed that revocation to the Board of Adjustment, which denied his appeal during a hearing that he did not attend.
(See “Short-Term Rental Permit Was Short-Lived” in Vol. 2, No. 16.)
Since then, the city has instituted a process that calls for public hearings before the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council whenever someone applies for a short-term rental permit. Young’s application was the fifth to be considered via that process.
Two of the previous four were approved by the City Council. Those two are homes on Bradford Drive and Kaye Street, where each of the owners rents out a single bedroom. The other two cases on Crestview Court and Lairds Drive were more controversial; after receiving support from zero commissioners, those owners opted to not proceed to the council.
(See “Short-Term Rental Has Long List of Issues” in Vol. 3, No. 35, and “Permit Request Has Coppell Greens Seeing Red” in Vol. 3, No. 44.)
Young was present for the beginning of Thursday’s hearing but not for its conclusion. After 12 of his neighbors voiced their opposition, Young stood up and asked if he could withdraw his application. Shortly thereafter, he withdrew himself from the hearing.
Vice Chair Glenn Portman made a motion to close the hearing based on Young’s withdrawal, but Chair Edmund Haas chose to continue with further testimony from neighbors.
“If you all feel like you want to say something on the record, I’d like to hear it,” Haas said. “Because we’ve had four applications, and I think there’s validity to what we’re hearing with regards to future applications.”
In total, 17 people spoke during the hearing. They expressed concerns about short-term rentals in general and Young’s property in particular. Some of the strongest testimony came from his next-door neighbors, Brent and Nanci Bookout.
Nanci Bookout said Young’s first tenants in 2021 were there for a bachelor party. She said “a very, very drunk man” from that party tried to get in a car with their daughter. After their daughter screamed at him, he tried to get into the Bookouts’ house.
Before the hearing began, Young told the commissioners that “the problems have been very overexaggerated,” and he pointed out that there’s only one police report on file. However, Brent Bookout — who has owned his home since 1999 — said he’s experienced more noise occurrences in the past three years than there were in the previous 22 combined.
“We’re not gonna call the police every time,” he said. “I mean, if we thought we were in imminent danger, we’ll call the police.”
Although a Code Compliance officer posted a cease-and-desist letter dated June 26 in Young’s yard, Nanci Bookout said he continued renting the house until Aug. 10. She said she recorded people leaving with suitcases on that date.
“Mr. Young does not tell the truth,” she said. “He does not know how to tell the truth.”
Elisabeth Nelson, who lives across the street, also cast doubt on Young’s honesty. She said he has been renting his house on a short-term basis, despite his revoked permit, and that he does not reside there, as required by the city’s ordinance.
“I have not seen the owner living at this property,” she said. “We live right across the street, and we can see who’s coming and going.”
Will Young be coming back to the property he’s owned since 2012? That remains to be seen. Before bolting from the hearing, he told the commissioners he hopes to retire in his house on Oakbend.
“I’m not trying to do anything illegal,” he said. “I’m just living my life.”
Coppell ISD Cuts Distinct Gifted Courses
Coppell ISD’s three middle schools no longer offer separate courses for Gifted and Talented (GT) students. Parents were informed of this change 16 days before the semester started.
A July 29 email attributed to the schools’ principals — East’s Melissa Arnold, West’s Sarah Balarin, and North’s Chris Gollner — said GT identification follows students rather than courses. They said GT students would be clustered in classrooms that might also include kids not identified for GT services.
“We believe this approach will benefit all students by fostering a more collaborative and dynamic learning environment,” the principals wrote. “Students receiving GT services will have the opportunity to work alongside their peers while still receiving the tailored instruction they need to excel.”
A subscriber whose child is a GT student brought this announcement to my attention and said parents were bothered by both its substance and timing.
“The timing means that GT families don’t have time to seek another academic venue if that would better meet their needs,” this parent said. “This would strike the cynic as a little sneaky on the part of CISD — to cut the service but not have to worry about a drop in enrollment, at least near-term.”
To be honest, I debated whether this topic merited coverage. A child who lives in my house is about 15 months removed from being a GT student at Coppell Middle School East. When I informed him of the change, he shrugged and said, “It’s just not that serious, bro.”
(Disclaimer: That’s his default response to a lot of things his dad says.)
This article exists because members of the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees discussed the GT changes during Monday’s budget workshop. To soften her critique, Trustee Leigh Walker commended the administration for doing “an amazing job” building trust with the community.
“What I need, as we continue moving forward, is to continue with that trust. And I think a big part of that is no surprises,” Walker said. “And if there’s going to be something that affects students directly — that is different than what they expected — that there’s communication with parents well in advance.”
To be clear, Walker explicitly said she was addressing the GT policy.
“We have things that we can control, and we can control letting our parents know things in advance,” she said. “Especially if you enrolled for something in the spring, and then two weeks before school begins, it is a totally different course, I think there needs to be a ramp-up for our parents.”
Trustee Manish Sethi wants the district to figure out a way to quantify how such moves affect student outcomes as well as the morale of students and staff.
“We have cycles of up and down all the time in any organization,” Sethi said, “but we need some kind of trigger point to know that this change is because of some basic changes we recommended in a program or facilities, or whatever changes that will come up in [the] near future.”
Superintendent Brad Hunt said that could be challenging, because multiple changes can make it hard to determine which one led to an issue.
“If you are being more efficient with scheduling, and you’re wanting to make sure that you don’t have a lot of empty seats in classrooms,” Hunt said, “you know, that could help with efficiencies, that could save some funds here and there, but what does that do to the morale of that teacher?”
Trustee Jobby Mathew also raised the prospect of effects that would be difficult to quantify.
“You’ve got a quirky kid who maybe thinks far outside the box, but in a smaller GT setting, maybe they’re more comfortable in just saying whatever they feel,” Mathew said. “But if it’s a larger setting, ‘Uh, maybe I won’t say anything.’ You can’t measure that. It’s harder to figure out.”
Hunt assured the trustees that changes to programs and facilities are based on feedback from parents and staff, including the District Educational Improvement Committee that is composed primarily of teachers. Hunt reiterated that more feedback is always welcome via input@coppellisd.com.
“I did not want people to think that only a handful of people were making these decisions in isolation,” Hunt said. “We are relying heavily on input from our community.”
To that end, mark these dates on your calendar:
Aug. 19 – The Board of Trustees will conduct a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow on the district’s proposed budget and tax rate.
Sept. 9 – The trustees will receive a recommended course of action regarding the potential closure of any campuses.
Sept. 16 – The trustees will continue discussing the recommended course of action during a workshop.
Sept. 18 – The district will host a town hall meeting at the Coppell High School Ninth Grade Campus.
Sept. 30 – The trustees should make a decision on whether to close any campuses.
Council Declines ‘11th Hour’ Budget Tweaks
On Tuesday, the Coppell City Council spent about 90 minutes discussing how the proposed budget would affect homeowners’ tax bills. By the end of that discussion, they opted not to pursue any “11th hour” changes.
During the council’s third and final budget workshop on July 29, Jim Walker suggested to his fellow council members that they figure out how to shave $1.55 million from the budget so nobody’s municipal tax bill would increase.
(See “Coppell Taxpayers May NOT Pay More” in Vol. 4, No. 24.)
As a result of Walker’s suggestion, City Manager Mike Land gave the council three scenarios to consider on Tuesday. All three included these two assumptions:
A $300,000 increase in revenues by adjusting interest income from 2.5 percent to 3 percent.
A $120,000 decrease in expenditures by reducing some contracts’ costs.
Scenario A was to accept the proposed budget with no adjustments other than the two listed above, which would reduce the increase in the average Coppell homeowner’s tax bill from $75.36 to $56.07.
Scenario B was to use a portion of the sales tax revenues that have been set aside while the city awaits a resolution to its lawsuit against Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar over Rule 3.334. That would reduce the increase in the average Coppell homeowner’s tax bill from $75.36 to $4.14.
Scenario C would also reduce the increase in the average Coppell homeowner’s tax bill to $4.14 by doing the following:
Cut the budget for Celebrate Coppell by $100,000, which covered a few enhancements to the Independence Day event, including — but not limited to — a drone show.
Cut $500,000 allocated to creating a food truck park in Old Town.
Forgo adding two new positions to the staff: a Senior Code Compliance Officer and an Economic Development Specialist.
Fund sidewalk repairs from the Infrastructure Maintenance Fund instead of the General Fund.
Let’s start with Scenario B. Land told the council that using the diverted sales taxes would “raise a red flag,” according to Jason Hughes, a financial advisor with Hilltop Securities. Despite that warning, Ramesh Prekumar still favored pursuing that scenario. “I’m trying to solve the problem for this year,” he said. Shifting sales taxes “helps us achieve the goal of not increasing the property tax bill.” None of the other elected officials seemed interested in Scenario B.
After thanking Land and his staff for exploring options, Walker wondered whether only some of the adjustments in Scenario C could be pursued. He suggested hiring the two new employees but going forward with the other cuts and shifts in that scenario.
“The fireworks were beautiful,” Walker said of Celebrate Coppell. “I think we could live without the drones.”
However, Walker eventually endorsed Scenario A after many of his peers said these types of “philosophical discussions” would be more appropriate for the council’s retreat in January.
Mayor Wes Mays: “This council’s been on a plan for the last 20 to 30 years that’s worked very well for the city. And that’s part of the staff’s consternation, is we’re asking them to change direction, which is not anything that this council had previously even indicated to do.”
Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Nevels: “Staff did everything we asked them to do … and that shift in philosophy at the last second does not reflect the stability that this council and this organization has had over the past decades.”
Council Member Don Carroll: “I’m not saying that we can’t have philosophical discussions. My concern is, at sort of the last minute or the 11th hour, what I thought personally was going to be somewhat of an easy — you know, not that big a deal — may have broader ramifications.”
The council’s senior member, Brianna Hinojosa-Smith, said she’s seen big crowds protesting potential tax increases in previous years. However, “I haven’t seen that this time around,” she said.
If you’re an average Coppell homeowner who can’t stomach a $56 increase to your municipal tax bill, then circle Aug. 27 on your calendar. That’s when the council should conduct public hearings and formal votes on the tax rate and budget.
Restaurant Roundup
• The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has placed a poster at the former home of Smashburger on Denton Tap Road. The poster says a company called BREL LLC has applied for a wine and malt beverage retailer’s permit. Some online sleuthing led me to believe that BREL LLC might be associated with the Egg Farm Cafe in Flower Mound, so I went there today on a fact-finding mission. However, the only fact I have to report is that their avocado toast topped with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs was pretty tasty.
• Six months after signs began heralding a new Little Caesars outlet on the southwest corner of Sandy Lake and Denton Tap roads, I noticed a “NOW OPEN!” banner on Thursday evening. I pulled into the parking lot to find that the door was still locked, but a guy inside said pizzas would be available for sale on Friday. I then broke that news via my Instagram and Notes accounts. However, I noticed on Saturday evening that the “NOW OPEN” banner was gone. A handwritten sign taped to the door says, “Please accept my sincere apologies. We will open Monday. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
• Valley Ranch resident Rashmi Khowala has applied for a permit to open a restaurant called Danny’s Fruteria in Valley Ranch Centre, the shopping center on the southeast corner of MacArthur Boulevard and Belt Line Road. Khowala, who is associated with the Shahnaz Salon in that center, is eyeing the vacant space between Pizza Hut and the Little Gym for the fruteria.
• A liquor store called Reggis has vacated its space in Stampede Crossing, an Irving shopping center along the eastbound service road of Interstate 635. An ice cream shop called Dallas Delights will take over that space, according to a form filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.
• On the opposite side of Interstate 635, Gipsy Lime Taco Lounge was open for business as usual on Saturday. That’s notable because a leasing flyer maintained by The Shop Companies identifies Gipsy Lime’s space as available.
• The next time you go to an event at the Granada Theater or SMU, consider grabbing dinner at Goodwins on Greenville Avenue. One of the restaurant’s owners, Jeff Bekavac, is a 1997 graduate of Coppell High School. Eater Dallas has more details.
• Last night, my lovely wife and my lovely mother and I attended a lovely party at Nuri Steakhouse. The Dallas restaurant’s general manager is Jamie Benge, who was the best man at my wedding. The Coppell connection (besides yours truly) is that Nuri is owned by Wan Kim, the CEO of Smoothie King, which is headquartered within Coppell ISD. You can read more about Nuri in previews published by D Magazine, WFAA, and Culture Map.
Chronicle Crumbs
• The contractors working on DART’s Silver Line tracks are about to close the northbound lane of South Coppell Road, due north of Southwestern Boulevard, for approximately three weeks. Freeport Parkway should be the simplest alternative for people trying to get into Old Town.
• I’m tipping my cap to Kate Bartz, who alerted me to a closure notice buried deep within the Texas Department of Transportation’s website. That notice says ALL eastbound lanes of Interstate 635 will be blocked at Luna Road for overnight construction this week. Yikes. If you need to make a late-night or early-morning trip into Dallas, find an alternate route.
• On Monday afternoon, the Coppell Police Department announced that Dallas resident Tayshawn Latimer, 23, died on Aug. 9 after crashing his motorcycle on South Belt Line Road. A manager at Coppell’s Tom Thumb confirmed that Latimer had been employed there as a produce clerk.
• Former Coppell resident Kathleen House died on Monday after a brief illness. According to the bio on her website, she developed the elementary art program in Coppell ISD. Her family will host a celebration of life between 6 and 8 p.m. today at the Bartonville Store.
• Coppell resident Christa Slejko will retire as president of Dallas College’s North Lake Campus (and its associated Coppell Center) in November. Her North Lake tenure began in 1997 as its dean of financial affairs; she officially assumed the presidency in 2014 after three years as interim president.
• There’s a 4.4-acre compound on Cottonwood Drive, due north of where South Coppell Road meets Sandy Lake Road. The wooden fence around the compound was recently adorned with a framed painting. Most people driving on Sandy Lake are moving too fast to get a good look at the painting, so I ambled over there to take a picture of it.
Community Calendar
Coppell Cowgirls Volleyball: The varsity squad’s home opener against McKinney Boyd is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday in the Coppell High School Arena. The Cowgirls will also host Keller at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.
August Paint & Sip: A Starry Night (Texas Version): Kate Shema of Createria Studios will guide participants through a relaxing evening of painting a vibrant scene. This event, which will begin at 6 p.m. on Wednesday at the Coppell Arts Center, is for adults only because alcohol will be available.
Nathuram Godse: A two-act play about the man who assassinated Mohandas K. Gandhi will be performed at the Coppell Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. The dialogue will be delivered in Marathi, but an English translation will be available to patrons who bring their own devices.
Golf Ball Drop: The Citizen’s Police Academy Coppell Alumni Association is raising funds via a 50/50 raffle. Golf balls are being sold for $5 apiece, and they will be dropped at 7 a.m. on Friday. The owner of the first ball in the hole will split the pot with the association.
Kirkland House 120th Anniversary: Coppell’s oldest house sits at the corner of West Bethel and South Coppell roads. The celebration that will happen between 1 and 3 p.m. on Saturday will include remarks from the Kirklands’ great-great-grandsons, plus hors d’oeuvres and refreshments. RSVPs are requested via 469-822-9009.
Mark Nizer: Nizer has been known to juggle everything from ping pong balls and bowling balls to a burning propane tank and a running electric carving knife. He’ll perform at the Coppell Arts Center twice on Saturday, at 2 and 7 p.m.
Coppell Lariettes Spaghetti Dinner: This annual fundraiser will begin at 5 p.m. on Aug. 30 in the Coppell High School Commons before the varsity football team takes on Sachse. Halftime of that game will include a performance featuring former Lariettes. (See “Former Lariettes Invited to Dance Again” in Vol. 4, No. 23.)
Two-Fer Tuesday: The “two-fer” in this event’s title refers to mammograms and meals. The Mammogram Poster Girls truck will be at Ole’s Tex-Mex from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sept. 3. The mammograms will be free, but appointments are required. Call 214-933-7200 if you’re 40 or older. Otherwise, call 214-947-1771.
Las Colinas Bowl-A-Thon: One hundred percent of the proceeds from this Sept. 4 event at Pinstack will benefit Irving Cares. Teams of six can register for $500; that price gets each bowler two rounds of bowling, two drink tickets, dinner, dessert, and an unlimited game card. Non-bowlers can get all of those perks for $25.
Amanda Churchill: The local author will discuss her debut novel at 2 p.m. on Sept. 8 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons. The Turtle House was inspired by Churchill’s grandmother, who was a Japanese war bride.
Patriotic Peace Ceremony: Troop 841 will mark the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks during its meeting at 7 p.m. on Sept. 9 at Andrew Brown Park East, and the public is invited to participate. Weather permitting, the ceremony will include the release of a dozen white doves.
Coppell Chamber Golf Classic: Coppell Chamber of Commerce members will hit the links at Grapevine Golf Course on Sept. 12.
Raina Telgemeier: The author and illustrator of Smile and other bestselling graphic novels will be at the Coppell Arts Center at 3 p.m. on Sept. 14. This free event is made possible by the Friends of the Coppell Public Library. Attendees are welcome to bring one book for Telgemeier to sign. Books will also be available for purchase through Grapevine’s Talking Animals Books.
In an amazing display of quick research, a subscriber sent me this blog post that was apparently written by the artist who created the painting highlighted in the Chronicle Crumbs: http://www.johnfolley.com/beauty-advocacy-blog/category/lately-complete
CORRECTION: As originally published, the article about the city budget said Scenario C would have cut $50,000 allocated to creating a food truck park in Old Town. The budgeted amount is actually $500,000.