Coppell Chronicle Vol. 4, No. 27
H-E-B Files Paperwork to Build in Irving • Coppell ISD Trustees Call Tax Election • Flood Control District Keeps Eroding Debt • New Trail Planned for Cypress Waters
The only thing hotter than the heat wave we’ve been enduring is the news at the top of this edition. Let’s get right to it.
H-E-B Files Paperwork to Build in Irving
H-E-B has applied for a permit to build a grocery store in the Irving portion of Coppell ISD. This would be the iconic chain’s first flagship store in Dallas County.
The City of Irving received the application on Aug. 5. Although it does not include the name “H-E-B,” the listed applicant is Mark Vaclavik, whose LinkedIn account says he has been a senior engineer with the company since 2017. His mailing address on the application was the same as H-E-B’s headquarters in San Antonio. The application described the project as a 113,000-square-foot grocery store at 2488 Market Place Blvd., which is along the westbound service road of Interstate 635.
Coppell Chronicle subscribers first got an inkling about an H-E-B at that location last January, when I published an article based on a hunch. Two subsequent articles were sparked by comments from Al Zapanta, whose Irving City Council district includes the property.
Jan. 7: “Is an H-E-B in Store for Coppell ISD?”
Jan. 28: “Irving Official Drops Big Hint About H-E-B”
March 24: “Irving Councilman Spills the H-E-Beans”
After obtaining the details of the Aug. 5 application, I reached out to H-E-B spokesperson Mabrie Jackson for comment. Similar to what she told me in March, this was her emailed response: “We do not currently own property at that location.”
That may be true, but H-E-B also does not own any property along State Highway 183 in Irving. Yet the company acknowledged its plans to open a Joe V’s Smart Shop near the intersection of 183 and Story Road after media outlets noticed an associated form had been filed with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation this month.
I obtained the details of the Aug. 5 application via an open records request. Sometime after I received those details, the address on the application was changed from 2488 Market Place Blvd. to 2351 W. Interstate Highway 635. I noticed this change late Friday afternoon, when it was too late to file another open records request so I could see whether anything else had been updated.
The Dallas Central Appraisal District has no listing for 2351 W. Interstate Highway 635, but it says 2488 Market Place Blvd. belongs to a Los Angeles firm called LTFI Investors. Oddly, the original application from Vaclavik said the land is owned by a San Jose business called Techs Across the River LP. But the appraisal district’s records indicate that Techs Across the River sold the property to LTFI Investors in 2021.
LTFI shares its Los Angeles address with LaTerra Development. In December of 2022, LaTerra managing director Chris Tourtellotte talked to the Irving City Council about the property along 635: “Once the neighborhood learns of the tenant that we’re talking to, I think you’re going to say, ‘Wow! My home value just went up.’ I think you’re going to be very, very pleased.”
At that time, Tourtellotte was convincing the council to approve his firm’s plans to convert the building on the north end of the property, which was formerly occupied by Fry’s Electronics, into a storage facility. I’ve tried to get in touch with Tourtellotte this month to find out whether those plans are still in the works, but he has not responded to my emails or voicemails.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve consistently noticed a security vehicle parked in front of the Fry’s building. On Saturday afternoon, I parked at the Home Depot next door and walked over to the Fry’s lot to ask a few questions. The woman I spoke to said security is on site around the clock, but she claimed to not know who’s paying for all that security. She also didn’t know I was approaching her vehicle until I was close enough to knock on the window.
At the south end of the property, a large sign says 11.7 acres of the 19.5-acre parcel are available. If you dial the phone number on that sign, you’ll hear a recording that says the number is no longer in service. Perhaps that means the property is no longer available due to a pending purchase. Time will tell.
Coppell ISD Trustees Call Tax Election
Coppell ISD’s trustees have opted to put a tax proposition on the November ballot, and they are by no means happy about it.
During Monday’s board meeting, Trustee Nichole Bentley used the words “criminal,” “contrived, “convoluted,” “frustrating,” and “disgusting” to describe the situation in which the school district finds itself.
“I hope our community knows that we’ve been transparent,” Bentley said. “We’ve done as much as we can with what we have, and I feel like this is one of the last levers that we have to flip.”
That lever is a voter-approved tax-ratification election (VATRE). If a majority of voters approve, the district will add 3.17 pennies to its maintenance-and-operations (M&O) tax rate, resulting in $2.4 million worth of extra funds; it will also result in an additional $3.48 million being recaptured by the state government.
“I don’t love that we’re gonna be generating 5.88 million and we keep 2.4, right? That is the rub for me,” said Trustee Leigh Walker, who added, “We have a few levers that we can pull — I think we’ve all said this in one way or another — and we owe it to our community to pull ’em all.”
Because Coppell ISD’s property values rose by 10.3 percent, the state mandated a 4.7-cent reduction to the district’s M&O tax rate. So even if voters approve the 3.17-cent increase in November, the M&O rate would still be 1.53 cents lower than it is now. However, due to those rising property values, the average Coppell ISD homeowner would pay an extra $163 per year.
Some of the numbers in the preceding paragraphs should sound familiar to subscribers who read these articles:
March 10: “Trustees Discuss Tax-Ratification Election”
June 23: “Coppell ISD Surveys Voters About Tax Hike”
July 28: “Coppell ISD Voters May Consider Tax Measure”
Coppell ISD needs that $2.4 million because the Texas Legislature has not adjusted its school financing formula since 2019. Meanwhile, the cost of basically everything has gone up over the past five years.
During Monday’s meeting, Chief Financial Officer Diana Sircar said the 3 percent raises for employees that the trustees approved in June added up to a $3.3 million expense. This was Bentley’s reaction to that figure: “This VATRE, you know, essentially helps us maybe have a pay raise again in a year.”
Coppell ISD is not alone in this regard. The trustees of Argyle ISD, Grapevine-Colleyville ISD, and Northwest ISD have all opted to put similar measures on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Monday’s vote on calling a VATRE in Coppell ISD was 6-0, with Trustee Manish Sethi being absent. Here’s what he said a week earlier during the board’s final budget workshop:
“Our community is doing their part by paying those taxes, so the dollars are there. It’s just being held at Austin, and held at hostage for vouchers, and not being passed back to districts,” Sethi said on Aug. 12. “The dollars are there. Everybody’s doing their part — [the] community’s paying higher taxes; we’re trying to make our dollars stretch as much as we can. It’s just we need some action from Austin.”
A Brief Promotional Interruption
Axios recently published an article about some of the independent journalists taking advantage of Substack. Although Substack is the platform that makes the Coppell Chronicle possible, Axios did not reach out to this independent journalist. I may not be as successful as some of the big dogs in that article, but I’m knocking on the door of 1,000 paid subscribers. That would put me a third of the way toward my long-stated goal of 3,000 paid subscribers. That goal is not an arbitrary amount; it’s based on the number of voters who participated the last time a Coppell City Council election went to a runoff.
If you’re one of my free subscribers, or a Coppell Chronicle neophyte who found your way here via the H-E-B news, please consider becoming a paid subscriber for $5 per month or $30 per year.
OK. Let’s get back to the news.
Flood Control District Keeps Eroding Debt
Here’s some good news for the frustrated taxpayers of the Northwest Dallas County Flood Control District: Its debt could be paid off in just a few years.
The district’s Aug. 13 board meeting started more than 20 minutes late due to the lack of a quorum. That gave the only board member in the room, the reliably loquacious Wayne Reynolds, an opportunity to kill time by answering a few questions.
(As a reminder, the room where this board meets is the clubhouse of the Oaks Riverchase apartment complex, a fact that may never stop amusing me.)
One of the two taxpayers who showed up to watch the meeting asked how much debt is left on the books. Reynolds said the district owed more than $15.8 million after a refinancing approved by voters in 2015. By next month, that number should be down to less than $8.6 million.
Once the meeting began, Reynolds and fellow board member Bennett Ratliff approved a regularly scheduled bond payment of about $791,000 plus a prepayment of $605,000 toward the principal. The district has realized interest savings of nearly $1.2 million via such prepayments.
“Not only are we aggressively getting out of debt, we’re saving the taxpayers one million dollars as well,” Ratliff said, and Reynolds immediately added: “Thus far.” (The board’s third member, Tex Schmidt, was absent.)
Reynolds and Marti Shew, a managing director at Hilltop Securities, said the original target date for paying off the district’s debt was 2038, but Shew estimated that could happen by 2030, and Reynolds was even more confident. If the board keeps making prepayments, he said, the debt could be erased as soon as 2028.
The other taxpayer in the room asked what would happen next.
“We are highly optimistic that the city will take over the district at some point,” Reynolds said.
Without naming names, Ratliff said he’s had discussions with Coppell leaders who are receptive to that idea. The question is, will any of those receptive people still be in leadership positions when the debt is paid off?
Only one of Coppell’s elected officials resides in the flood control district at the moment. Maybe some of the district’s other taxpayers should consider running for office.
New Trail Planned for Cypress Waters
Various government agencies are teaming up to spend nearly $7 million on a paved trail along the western shoreline of North Lake.
The graphic below was shared during an Aug. 8 meeting hosted by the Dallas County Public Works Department. The virtual meeting was an opportunity for contractors to learn more about the Cypress Waters Trail project, which has a budget of $6.99 million.
Dallas County is contributing $5 million to the new Cypress Waters Trail, but $2 million of that amount should be credited to the federal government, courtesy of the American Rescue Plan Act. The Texas Department of Transportation is providing more than $1.8 million, and the City of Dallas is kicking in about $160,000 because the Cypress Waters development is within Dallas’ city limits.
Komala Narra manages Dallas County’s Trail and Preserve Program. She said the initial funding for the Cypress Waters Trail was seeded in 2018, but the final rights of way weren’t acquired until this year. Narra said the county intends to put the project out to bid this fall and hopes to begin construction in the winter.
The construction process is expected to take 300 working days. When finished, the Cypress Waters Trail will connect to the Cotton Belt Trail that is being constructed alongside the tracks for DART’s Silver Line trains.
“These trail projects are so critical in the overall connectivity throughout the county,” said Tushar Solanki, who oversees the county’s Transportation and Planning Division. His remarks also referenced the Dallas County Mobility Plan adopted by county commissioners in 2019.
None of the participants in the Aug. 8 meeting mentioned the fact that there’s already a Cypress Waters Trail around North Lake that is partially paved. It is supported by a nonprofit organization called Friends of the Cypress Waters Trail, which has a website that includes this map:
(By the way, I took a walk on the paved portion of that Cypress Waters Trail last week and encountered some monstrous messes. I don’t know what breeds of dogs the residents of Cypress Waters are keeping as pets, but I find it hard to believe that these droppings were produced by a domesticated animal.)
I appeared to be the only journalist who tuned into the Aug. 8 meeting, and Dallas County Commissioner Andy Sommerman was the only elected official who participated. These were his opening remarks:
“The purpose of these trails is to provide a place to clear the mind for therapy of the soul. It can also be a place where children can get off the path and play in grass or splash in puddles. For some, it’s a starting point for their journey to become the next Lance Armstrong or the [next] Noah Lyles.
“Trails can also be the path for economic growth. A plethora of case studies show that trails bring homes, business, and economic vibrance to the area. They are not only to connect people but also places. This project is a good use of tax dollars that will bring a return on investment for years to come. The trail will not only add to our economic activity but also be a salve to our soul.”
If you think that sounds poetic, wait until you read the actual poetry that Sommerman recited to close the meeting. Yes, the commissioner composed a poem addressed to the contractors:
“There once was a place called Cypress, its landscape and waters desirous. Along came the county, who put up the bounty, so grab your shovels and inspire us.”
Chronicle Crumbs
• CORRECTION: As originally published, the article in last week’s edition about the City of Coppell’s proposed budget said $50,000 had been allocated to creating a food truck park in Old Town. The budgeted amount is actually $500,000. I regret omitting that key zero.
• The Coppell City Council will conduct public hearings on the proposed budget and tax rate during Tuesday’s meeting, which will begin at 7:30 p.m. That meeting will also include a public hearing on St. Ann Catholic Parish’s request to sell alcohol during the St. Ann Carnival, which is scheduled for Sept. 6-8. (See “St. Ann Carnival to Offer Alcohol” in Vol. 2, No. 25.)
• Speaking of alcohol, I reported last week that a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission poster placed at the former home of Smashburger on Denton Tap Road says a company called BREL LLC has applied for a wine and malt beverage retailer’s permit. I have since laid eyes on multiple city documents confirming that the future tenant will be known as Luigi’s Italian Bistro.
• Also in last week’s edition, I highlighted a painting that adorns a wooden fence along Sandy Lake Road, across from the northern end of South Coppell Road. In an amazing display of quick research, two subscribers sent me a link to a blog post that was apparently written by the painting’s creator.
• I wish I had been able to report last week that the contractors working on DART’s Silver Line would be completely closing Belt Line Road in Carrollton, but I didn’t find out about the closure until after it happened at 9 a.m. on Thursday. The road will remain closed at Hutton Drive until 3 p.m. on Monday.
• Speaking of traffic nightmares in Carrollton, the Texas Department of Transportation has published detour plans for its upcoming closure of the Luna Road bridge over Interstate 35E, which is scheduled to happen on Sept. 4. (See “Bridge Over I-35 Could Close for One Year” in Vol. 4, No. 19.)
• The Valley Ranch Library is closed for a multiday project to replace its aging HVAC system. It’s expected to reopen by Thursday, but the library will be closed again from Sept. 8 through Sept. 21, when its floors will be replaced.
• Coppell-based Takis has launched a recycling challenge for schools that will award garden beds, compost bins, and flower planters — all made from recycled materials — to three grand-prize winners.
• 7-Eleven, which has its U.S. headquarters in the Coppell ISD portion of Irving, is owned by a Japanese company called Seven & i Holdings. That firm has received a buyout offer from the Canadian corporation that owns a rival chain of convenience stores, Circle K. The Associated Press has more details.
Community Calendar
Teddy Bear Campout: Bring your favorite teddy bear or lovey to the Cozby Library and Community Commons for a campout between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday; the event will include a story time, s’mores in a bag, and games. If you can bear to leave your pal behind, he or she can spend the night in the library; the staff will share pictures of their overnight adventures.
Coppell Lariettes Spaghetti Dinner: This annual fundraiser will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday 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.)
Miss Heart of Texas Pageant: I don’t believe Coppell is deep in the heart of Texas, but the Coppell Arts Center will nonetheless be the site of the pageant at 3 p.m. on Sept. 1. (One week later, the titles of Miss Southlake and Miss Westlake will be bestowed at the Coppell Arts Center.)
Labor Day Tennis Social & Match Play: All area tennis players — and those considering taking up the sport — should be at the Wagon Wheel Tennis and Pickleball Center between 8:30 and 11 a.m. on Sept. 2. That’s when you can meet other tennis enthusiasts, learn about local facilities and programs, and play or observe others in match play.
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.
Caregiving Heroes: This support group for people who are assisting loved ones with aging or other concerns will meet at 10 a.m. on Sept. 7 at First United Methodist Church of Coppell.
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.
Coppell Cheer Bingo: This annual fundraiser filled with fun, food, and prizes is scheduled from 6 to 9 p.m. on Sept. 20 in the CHS cafeteria. Entry tickets are $20 each and can be redeemed for 10 bingo cards; raffle tickets are $5. Contact your favorite Coppell cheerleader to buy either type of ticket.
Town Hall with Sen. Tan Parker: Parker represents not only Coppell in the Texas Senate but also a portion of Tarrant County, about half of Denton County, and the entirety of Wise County. He’ll be at Dallas College’s Coppell Center for a town hall meeting at 9 a.m. on Sept. 25 (rescheduled from Sept. 10). Admission is free, but RSVPs are requested.
You got a mention in D Magazine: https://www.dmagazine.com/micropost/h-e-b-to-open-store-in-irving/
Love that last limerick! Real limerick cadence and a touch of humor.
Signed,
Paying Subscriber Marcie Sandall