Coppell Chronicle Vol. 4, No. 2
Apartments Rezoned to Cottonwood Creek • Demolition to Make Way for Fire Station 5 • City Selling Land to Jacaranda Shop Owners • Coach Honored for 25 Years of Service
If you watch broadcast television — especially the “old people” block of local news, national news, Jeopardy!, and Wheel of Fortune — then you’re probably aware that this is election season. Those over-the-top commercials are hard to miss. You might also be aware due to all the campaign texts dinging your phone and flyers stuffing your mailbox.
Some primary races will wrap up on Tuesday, when the polls will be open from 7 to 7. If you still have decisions to make, I suggest consulting the information compiled by the League of Women Voters.
However, several campaigns with large fields will need to be settled by runoffs that won’t be decided until May 28. That means more commercials, more texts, and more mailings.
Apartments Rezoned to Cottonwood Creek
After a detailed discussion of pros and cons, the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved expanding Cottonwood Creek Elementary School’s attendance zone to include a big chunk of Cypress Waters.
“These are tough decisions, and they’re not easy for anyone,” Superintendent Brad Hunt said during Monday’s board meeting.
Under the policy approved Monday, elementary students who reside north or east of Olympus Boulevard will be zoned to Cottonwood Creek. At the moment, there are 68 such students, but that number will probably grow after the August Hills development — which is on the east side of this map — is completed.
Students who reside in Cypress Waters were previously zoned to Richard J. Lee Elementary, the only one of the district’s 11 elementary campuses that was expected to be above 90 percent of its capacity next school year. In fact, Coppell ISD’s demographer projected Lee to be at nearly 99 percent of its capacity.
“We have to relieve the pressure from Lee; I totally get that,” Trustee Leigh Walker said. But she wanted to know why Canyon Ranch, the next closest elementary school, wasn’t a better option than Cottonwood Creek, which is on the opposite side of Coppell.
Lee, Canyon Ranch, and Valley Ranch are Coppell ISD’s only elementary schools that aren’t within Coppell’s city limits. Lee is in Dallas, and the other two are in Irving. Canyon Ranch and Valley Ranch are expected to be at 81 percent and 89 percent of their respective capacities next school year.
While it would seem Canyon Ranch has space overall, Chief Operations Officer Chris Trotter said the grade levels of the kids in the shifted area may be too crowded.
“When we looked at the enrollment numbers by grade level, that gave us some angst,” Trotter said. “We have some grade levels at Canyon Ranch that could put us into a predicament with these 68 children.”
Cottonwood Creek is at the other end of the capacity spectrum. Demographer Bob Templeton has said the school could be only 63 percent full this autumn, and that stat could drop to 57 percent by 2028.
Its empty seats were not the only reason Cottonwood Creek was determined to be the best option for the Cypress Waters kids. Hunt said Mockingbird Elementary and Wilson Elementary “didn’t make sense” because both schools are about to undergo bond-funded refreshes. (On Monday, the board also approved the guaranteed maximum prices for those projects; each one was about $3.5 million.) Town Center and Lakeside are scheduled to be refreshed during the 2025-2026 school year.
Wilson was also not a good option because of its classrooms devoted to Dual Language Immersion; the same goes for Denton Creek. Similarly, Pinkerton was not a possibility due to its status as an International Baccalaureate campus.
Hunt also said Cottonwood Creek was an attractive option because it’s located on Coppell’s outskirts, thereby making the commute possibly easier than getting to, say, Austin or Town Center. Trotter said the district will work with transportation provider Durham School Services over the summer to determine the most-efficient bus route.
In response to a question from Trustee Jobby Mathew, Trotter said the rezoned apartment complexes near The Sound at Cypress Waters are about 4 miles from Cottonwood Creek. Mathew lives in the Parkside West neighborhood south of State Highway 114, which is zoned to Canyon Ranch Elementary. That school is about 5 miles from his house.
“I understand that this is not that easy, especially for after hours, going to performances and things like that,” Mathew said.
Hunt and Trotter stressed that this rezoning applies to elementary students only. Residents of Cypress Waters who attend Cottonwood Creek would still advance to Coppell Middle School West, even though kids who live near Cottonwood Creek go to Coppell Middle School North. That split bothered a couple of the trustees, but the administrators pointed out that no Cypress Waters resident would make that transition alone.
“We’re trying to move them as a neighborhood,” Hunt said, “so they have other kids to be with and know and support.”
Trustee Manish Sethi made the motion to approve the rezoning as presented, after echoing Hunt’s comment about such decisions never being easy.
“It affects our community members. It affects the parents. It affects how their mornings and evenings turn out to be with their kids, and we don’t take it lightly,” Sethi said. But he said such moves are necessary, “given the fiscal responsibility we have towards our taxpayers.”
In the short term, Director of Communications Amanda Simpson told me on Friday that the district has emailed every Cypress Waters family impacted by the rezoning. She said they have an opportunity to apply for a transfer to Lee, if it has space in their child’s grade level, or another school.
In the long term, expect more rezoning debates. When Board President David Caviness asked about the potential need for a district-wide realignment, Trotter said that will probably need to be discussed a few years from now.
The trustees also approved the district’s strategic plan on Monday. This is one of the nine objectives in that plan: “Determine a long-term properties plan taking into account age of facilities, available space, current and projected enrollment, and program needs.”
Demolition to Make Way for Fire Station 5
You know that little building in front of Austin Elementary School that used to be a home for Theatre Coppell and other arts groups? Its days are officially numbered.
The building on Moore Road will be replaced by a fifth fire station, and the Coppell City Council is expected to review that project’s guaranteed maximum price in April. On Tuesday evening, the council approved a $605,000 “early release package” with Byrne Construction Services that will allow the firm to order electrical components for the new fire station that can take more than a year to be delivered. That approved deal also clears the way for the existing building to be demolished.
Chief Kevin Richardson was assigned to that building when he began working for the Coppell Fire Department in 1992. It stopped being a home away from home for firefighters just a few years later, when the new Fire Station 2 opened on MacArthur Boulevard.
Richardson has explained at City Council meetings and community events that the National Fire Protection Association says firefighters should be able to reach 90 percent of their coverage area within four minutes. Building a fifth station on Moore Road would ensure that Coppell’s bravest could reach 91 percent of their coverage area in that timeframe, he has said.
The council approved the early release package as part of their consent agenda, which means they didn’t discuss it. One day earlier, the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees had a related item on their consent agenda. The trustees granted the city a 780-square-foot easement on the Austin property that will enable firetrucks to make a wide turn into their bays within Fire Station 5.
City Selling Land to Jacaranda Shop Owners
Here’s something else that was on the City Council’s consent agenda that I found interesting: They approved the sale of a half-acre parcel in Old Town to the owners of Jacaranda Gift Shop.
Actually, the approved resolution regarding Lot 2, Block A of the Old Town Water Tank/Office Addition says the city is selling the land to RSC Investment Management, LLC. It didn’t take me long to figure out that RSC stands for Rory and Sarah Carrick.
Sarah Carrick and I spoke on Saturday about the pending sale, which won’t be official until the city publishes a couple of legal notices. She said the 0.453-acre parcel is the “lollipop-shaped” strip between her gift shop’s parking lot and the parking lot for the Coppell Barber Shop. She plans to beautify the “wasted space” with landscaping and flowers.
“Anything we do will be better than what’s there,” she said.
A memo to the City Council from Director of Community Development Mindi Hurley said the land will be used for “pop-up vendor events.” Due to the prospect of increased economic activity, the city is providing a grant of $4,150 to knock the final sales price down to $6,500.
Until I spoke to Carrick, I assumed the entire space between her store and the Coppell Barber Shop was being sold. And because Hurley has spoken in the past about establishing a food truck park in Old Town, I also assumed this sale might be related to that initiative. It turns out both of my assumptions were wrong.
Hurley reminded me that the city is hosting monthly “Fun, Food & Grooves” events that feature live music and food trucks. The next one is scheduled for this Friday outside the Coppell Arts Center. She said city staff will present data regarding these food truck-centric events to the council in a few months and seek direction on next steps.
Coach Honored for 25 Years of Service
On Saturday afternoon, I attended a Coppell Baseball Association preseason coaches meeting for the first time since 2017. My six-year absence was understandable. Like most youth baseball coaches, I moved on after my son reached a certain age.
Rocky Feemster is not like most youth baseball coaches. He has been volunteering his time and talents to the Coppell Baseball Association for 25 years. Consequently, the organization’s president, Kirk Baldridge, surprised him with an “Award of Gratitude” on Saturday.
Baldridge threw out a few stats to put Feemster’s quarter-century of service in perspective:
43 teams over 25 years due to spring, summer, and fall seasons.
475 players, “which means he also dealt with over 900 parents.”
450 games, which adds up to more than 3,000 innings.
At least 10,000 utterances of “keep your eye on the ball” and “be baseball ready.”
My son heard both of those sayings and plenty of other bon mots when Feemster coached him in 2019. I detailed that experience in a 2021 article called “Coach Keeps Putting Himself in Lineup.”
“Coaching gets in your blood,” Feemster said Saturday. “If you actually teach something and the kid actually learns it, it’s hard to replace that feeling.”
Feemster is not just a baseball coach; he’s also a baseball fan. So Saturday’s presentation included a recorded congratulatory message from legendary Texas Rangers broadcaster Eric Nadel, which Baldridge arranged via Cameo. Nadel has been calling games even longer than Feemster’s been coaching them.
Although he’s been a Coppell Baseball Association fixture for 25 years, Feemster began coaching before he moved to Coppell. He estimated he’s been mentoring baseball players for 42 years.
“My joy is that the kid wants to come back the next year. If the kid wants to come back the next year, then I’ve done my job. If he doesn’t, then somehow I’ve missed that kid. So I would encourage you to keep that in mind,” he said to the other coaches in the room, who responded with a standing ovation.
Criminal Content
• Last week, I briefly noted that white nationalist Thomas Rousseau had been detained in McLennan County on charges related to the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Va. Rolling Stone published an in-depth article about the Coppell High School graduate’s arrest, and it says Rousseau could face even more legal trouble if extradited to Virginia. He reportedly failed to contest a lawsuit brought against him and his Patriot Front group, alleging they defaced a Richmond statue of tennis great Arthur Ashe in 2021.
• Ranchview High School, a Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD campus in Valley Ranch, was locked down on Friday afternoon after a student revealed a gun in a backpack. Irving police said they quickly located and detained the juvenile suspect, whom they declined to identify. They said no shots were fired.
• At about 9:45 on Friday morning, a gunman robbed a Brinks security guard on Belt Line Road as the guard was emptying an ATM near Irving Mall. The gunman forced the guard to remove his pants, and someone in the vicinity captured video of this incident.
Chronicle Crumbs
• Several of Coppell’s park playgrounds will be temporarily closed this week while new mulch surface is installed. Signs have been posted at the affected playgrounds, including Kid Country, Andrew Brown Park West, Magnolia Park, Hunterwood Park, and Riverchase Park.
• Speaking of signs, the City of Coppell is making plans for another Grad-venger Hunt honoring graduating seniors. If you know a Coppell resident who is graduating from a school not in Coppell ISD, submit their information here.
• Speaking of graduating seniors, several Coppell organizations offer college scholarships, and at least one of them has an application deadline this week:
• The City of Coppell’s third annual Neighbors Helping Neighbors event is coming up on April 13. If you could use some assistance with a project on your property, click here.
• On Saturday, I spotted a sign touting a new business coming to the southwest corner of MacArthur Boulevard and Belt Line Road, and I have to admit the sign left me stumped. Or should I say stunped?
Community Calendar
Crimes of the Heart: Theatre Coppell will stage four more performances of Beth Henley’s play about three young Mississippi sisters betrayed by their passions. Shows are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. today, 8 p.m. on Friday, 8 p.m. on Saturday, and 2:30 p.m. on March 10 at the Coppell Arts Center.
Spring is in the Air: The Coppell Community Orchestra will present a family-friendly concert described as a “delightful musical bouquet” at 3 p.m. today at the Coppell Arts Center.
Coppell Relays: The Coppell High School track and field program’s only home meet of the season will happen on Thursday at Buddy Echols Field. Field events will begin at 2 o’clock, followed by running events at 5. The varsity Cowboys and Cowgirls are having a great season so far. Both squads finished first at the Denton Ryan Invitational and the Hebron Hawk Relays.
Community Experiences’ Master Plan Public Input Meeting: The Community Experiences Department oversees Coppell’s parks, recreation center, library, arts center, and cemetery. If you want to help shape the department’s master plan, be at the Cozby Library and Community Commons at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
Fun, Food & Grooves in Old Town: A band called Downtown Fever will perform outside the Coppell Arts Center between 5:30 and 7 p.m. on Friday, and a few food trucks will roll up at 5 o’clock.
Little Women: The Coppell High School Cowboy Theatre Company will present one public performance of their entry in the UIL’s one-act play competition. It’s scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, and admission is free.
Eat to Energize Your Workday: Sinead Adedipe, a dietitian and nutritionist, will be at the Cozby Library and Community Commons at 2 p.m. on March 10, when she will offer tips to help you plan your meals for a productive workday and snack ideas to boost your well-being.
Texas International Pageant: Tiaras and sashes will be awarded in five divisions — Mrs, Miss, Ms, Teen, and Preteen — during the pageant scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on March 10 at the Coppell Arts Center.
Harry Potter Party: Wizards and muggles are invited to celebrate the Harry Potter series of books and movies between 3 and 4 p.m. on March 11 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons.
Perot TECH Truck: The Perot TECH Truck will be at the Cozby Library and Community Commons between 3 and 4:30 p.m. on March 12 to inspire young scientists with hands-on activities.
Sunset Socials — Movie in the Park: The Coppell Community Experiences Department will host an outdoor screening of Moana at 6:30 p.m. on March 22 at Andrew Brown Park East.
Tipping the Hat: The Coppell Community Chorale will celebrate the music of Stephen Sondheim during shows scheduled for 7 p.m. on March 22 and 23 at the Coppell Arts Center.
Lariettes Tryouts: Coppell ISD students can audition for the Lariettes and Silver Stars drill teams on March 28. Applications are due by March 22, and a mandatory parent meeting is scheduled for March 19.
Still Life With Iris: Students at the Coppell High School Ninth Grade Campus will stage three performances of Steven Dietz’s family-friendly adventure that chronicles a girl’s quest to regain her memory and her home. You can see it at 7 p.m. on March 28, 29, or 30.
Are you, perhaps, related to Dr. Rick (Progressive commercial fame)? You have accurately called me out on becoming my parents by watching the “old people’s” block on t.v. Cementing the label, I watch afternoon game shows when I can. But back to your original point - the over-the-top political commercials that boggle the mind. While many are funded by the politician named in the ad, many others are funded by PACs. It doesn’t take too much time on the internet to research funding sources for the PAC named in the commercial. I have been surprised at the prominence and large sums of out-of-state contributions.