Coppell Chronicle Vol. 4, No. 39
Council OKs Parks and Recreation Purchases • Victory Shops Could be Full of Food • Warehouse Approved Next to Cemetery • One-Bedroom Rental Gets Four Thumbs Up
When I launched the Chronicle in 2021, a friend of mine doubted this one tiny town would generate four topics worth writing about every week.
Au contraire, mon frère. Your correspondent sometimes gets four headline-worthy articles from a single meeting. Today is one of those times.
Council OKs Parks and Recreation Purchases
In a recent edition of this newsletter, I said my family moved to Coppell for the schools (as opposed to the library, the rec center, or the parks). Make no mistake, though: Our parks are pretty nice — and they’re about to get even nicer.
The City Council unanimously approved a series of parks-and-recreation expenditures on Tuesday. I’ve ranked them in order of their price tags.
$119,615 for six basketball goals and bases at Andrew Brown Park West
$87,057 for 20 tables and 80 chairs in the Grand and Boardwalk pavilions at Andrew Brown Park East
$75,353 for nine cardio machines at the Coppell Senior and Community Center
$56,784 to resurface the courts at the Wagon Wheel Tennis and Pickleball Center
$54,930 to replace six nets and 10,500 square feet of artificial turf at the batting cages near Field 6 in Wagon Wheel Park
During the work session before Tuesday’s meeting, Council Member Biju Mathew requested more information about the most expensive items on that list. He was under the impression that some of the basketball goals at Andrew Brown Park West were still under warranty. However, Park Operations Manager David Ellison said that was not the case; a few of the goals had been moved from Andrew Brown Park East and date back to that park’s earliest days, Ellison said.
At least two of the six goals’ curved concrete bases have cracked, which led Ellison’s staff to remove their rims. One goal was still out of commission on Saturday. As I’ve previously reported, the replacements approved on Tuesday will be powder-coated metal poles.
“The integrity of the concrete is not lasting,” Director of Community Experiences Jessica Carpenter told the Coppell Recreation Development Corporation board in July. While the poles will be “not as visually interesting, from a maintenance standpoint, it makes more sense for us.”
(See “Slate of Parks and Rec Projects Proposed” in Vol. 4, No. 21.)
Later in Tuesday’s work session, during a presentation on cooperative contracts, Ramesh Premkumar questioned the price of $767.60 for each chair in the Andrew Brown Park East pavilions. “It kind of looked high to me,” he said.
Jennifer Cook, the city’s senior procurement specialist, said Coppell’s best-value criteria is not just about price. “It’s about vendor reputation, references, experience, customer service,” Cook said. “That has to align with City of Coppell’s expectations as well.”
And City Manager Mike Land chimed in to say that these tables and chairs are designed for outdoor use by hundreds of people over the course of many years. “It is not what you would put in your backyard,” Land said of the furniture made by The PlayWell Group.
The five expenditures approved Tuesday add up to nearly $394,000. That amount will be covered by the Coppell Recreation Development Corporation, which is funded by sales taxes.
Victory Shops Could be Full of Food
One development could bring more than a dozen new restaurants to Coppell.
The Victory Shops at Coppell has long been in the works on the east side of South Belt Line Road. I’ve written a few articles about its revised plans over the years:
Vol. 2, No. 26: “Developer Has Big Plans on Belt Line”
Vol. 2, No. 48: “Plans for Banquet Hall Get Derailed”
Vol. 3, No. 19: “Victory Shops Trigger New Traffic Signals”
On Tuesday, the Coppell City Council approved yet another revision to the plans, which now include this schematic:
Lots 1 through 7, Lot 10, and Lot 11 are labeled as potential restaurants, and Lots 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7 are designed to house multiple tenants. Bobby Mendoza, an executive vice president at Victory Real Estate Group, told the council that Lot 9 was envisioned as a bank, but it could be converted into yet another restaurant, if there’s enough demand.
Mendoza said this development has generated more interest from restaurant owners than his firm’s other projects around North Texas. He assumed that was due to the Coppell area’s large daytime population that commutes to jobs in the industrial parks on the city’s west side and the office buildings in Cypress Waters. All those people need places to grab lunch.
My previous articles on this development have mentioned Capriotti’s Sandwich Shop, Dillas Primo Quesadillas, Piada Italian Street Food, and Starbucks as potential Victory Shops options. But on Tuesday, the only restaurant Mendoza mentioned by name was Salad and Go, which he said would be on Lot 5. He also said Lot 2 would go to “our national coffee user,” which I assume features a mermaid in its logo.
Because the council unanimously approved the requested zoning changes plus four detailed site plans, Mendoza said contractors should start working on the site’s infrastructure this week. He estimated most of the buildings would be finished and occupied one year from now.
“Once dirt moves, that will really spark the rest of the interest,” he said.
However, that timeline doesn’t apply to the Tempo by Hilton hotel planned for Lot 8, because Mendoza said that five-story building will be constructed by a different developer. Nonetheless, the hotel’s detailed site plan was among the four approved by the council on Tuesday, and that plan includes an interesting detail. There will be lighting features on the building’s south and west sides that are designed to evoke the street grids in Old Town Coppell and “Downtown Coppell.”
Um, I’m very familiar with Old Town Coppell, but can anybody point me in the direction of Downtown Coppell? I wonder if that’s supposed to be a reference to Cypress Waters.
Warehouse Approved Next to Cemetery
A majority of the Coppell City Council approved a plan to build a 55-dock warehouse on land next to a cemetery.
When the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of this project along Freeport Parkway last month, Kent Hafemann cast one of the two dissenting votes. He questioned why the loading docks were planned for the building’s north side, facing the Oak Bend Estates subdivision. Hafemann said he could have supported the project if the building’s alignment were flipped, with the loading docks facing the Rolling Oaks Memorial Center.
(See “Warehouse Planned Near 2 Neighborhoods” in Vol. 4, No. 36.)
But on Tuesday, when the case was on the council’s agenda, Mayor Pro Tem Kevin Nevels had the opposite perspective; he asked whether such a large commercial building would be appropriate next to a cemetery. “I want to be considerate of the fact that it’s a solemn place,” Nevels said.
As she did during the commission’s hearing, Senior Planner Mary Paron-Boswell pointed out that the property is already zoned for light industrial uses. The project was on the council’s agenda only because the developer was requesting a few zoning variances. Even without the variances, Paron-Boswell said, “someone else could come in and build essentially the same thing.”
One of Nevels’ peers did express some concern for the neighborhoods to the north and east. Jim Walker wondered whether the warehouse could be painted in earth tones, so it would be less visible through the trees. Walker offered that suggestion with a self-deprecating disclaimer: “My wife won’t let me design or pick out anything at the house, because I have no taste at all, so I’m the last guy that needs to be giving you advice on the color palette.”
Before giving the project his seal of approval, Mark Hill said state law prohibits the council from controlling materials and colors. “I’m fine with it,” Hill said. “I’m an architect, and I think it looks fine.”
With that, the zoning variances were approved on a 6-1 vote, with Nevels dissenting.
One-Bedroom Rental Gets Four Thumbs Up
Since the City of Coppell adopted a policy that calls for public hearings if a homeowner wants to offer short-term rentals, a distinct pattern has emerged.
Three applicants have rented out multiple bedrooms to partying guests, which made them unpopular with their neighbors. These applicants all declined to appeal their cases to the City Council after getting no support from the Planning and Zoning Commission. Those hearings were documented in these articles:
Vol. 3, No. 35: “Short-Term Rental Has Long List of Issues”
Vol. 3, No. 44: “Permit Request Has Coppell Greens Seeing Red”
Vol. 4, No. 26: “Neighbors Strongly Oppose Short-Term Rentals”
Three other applicants who offer rentals of single bedrooms proceeded to the City Council, and all three had their cases approved. The latest of these approvals happened Tuesday, when the council heard from Aditi Kharel. She and her husband rent out a suite that is not connected to the rest of their five-bedroom house on Turnberry Lane.
Council Member Don Carroll was curious about the design of Kharel’s home, as he’d never seen a house with a detached bedroom before. He described it as a mother-in-law’s suite, but “you make her go outside to get to the other part of the house.” Kharel told Carroll that her home had not been modified; in fact, she said there are other houses in Coppell Greens with similar layouts.
Council Member Brianna Hinojosa-Smith asked whether the city could limit the number of guests in a bedroom, but Kharel assured her that she accommodates single guests only. Hinojosa-Smith asked where those guests park their vehicles, and Kharel said there is a designated spot in her driveway.
Council Member Biju Mathew recused himself from the hearing because he is one of Kharel’s neighbors. Although several other Coppell Greens homeowners spoke in opposition when Kharel appeared before the Planning and Zoning Commission last month, none showed up on Tuesday.
Kharel’s application was approved on a 4-2 vote, with Hinojosa-Smith and Jim Walker dissenting. Walker, who has likened short-term rentals to fungi, was the only “no” vote in the previous two cases considered by the council.
Chronicle Crumbs
• Near the end of Tuesday’s meeting, City Manager Mike Land thanked the council and the community for their support and grace as his staff continues to recover from the Oct. 23 cyberattack. “We are really getting close to being over the hump,” he said. Land lauded the Enterprise Solutions Department’s employees for the “amazing” work they’ve done to “basically rebuild our systems.”
(You can see the latest updates on the city’s recovery effort here, but you might also want to watch a recent report on the resulting outages from the student journalists at Coppell High School’s KCBY. They provided the teenage perspective in their Nov. 15 episode.)
• A few minutes after Land’s statement, City Council Member Jim Walker announced that country superstar LeAnn Rimes will perform at the Coppell Arts Center on Jan. 24. Tickets officially went on sale on Friday, when The Dallas Morning News featured a full-page ad promoting the show.
• Also on Tuesday, the City Council approved a list of appointments to various boards and commissions. Two names on that list jumped out at me:
Samit Patel, a former candidate for the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees who is designing the veterans memorial in Town Center Plaza, will soon become a member of the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission.
Kate Rumsey, an attorney and former candidate for Texas House District 115, has been named a special ethics legal counsel. That means she could investigate anyone accused of violating the city’s Code of Ethics and Conduct.
An associated memo from City Secretary Ashley Owens says 146 eligible applications were reviewed, “marking a record high in our application history.” The memo also says 52 eligible applications were submitted for Youth Advisors positions, “which is an unprecedented level of engagement from our younger residents.”
• The City of Coppell’s latest auction of surplus and seized items closes at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Many of the items up for bid appear to be left over from the auction I wrote about in “Online Auction Features Bargains Aplenty” last June.
• Danny’s Cafe opened last week on the southeast corner of MacArthur Boulevard and Belt Line Road. Although my lovely wife calls me “Danny” because we met when I was a lad, I am not affiliated with this new eatery. Nonetheless, I will endorse the mangonada I purchased there on Saturday, when she enjoyed an equally delicious mango smoothie. You can read more about our daytime date on my Instagram account.
• A September article called “Board of Adjustment Denies Carport Variance” ended with Board of Adjustment Chair Mark LeGros advising homeowner Derric Bonnot to get with Chief Building Official Steve Schubert “to figure out whether there’s an alternative procedure you can take.” It looks like they figured something out. Bonnot’s carport will be the subject of a public hearing before the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission this Thursday.
• Last December, an article called “Senior Living Rejected Near DART Bridge” documented how the Coppell City Council rejected a proposal to build a four-story apartment complex on a vacant lot along South Belt Line Road, between Bimmer Motor Specialists and a Chase bank. Thursday’s Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission meeting will include a public hearing regarding a proposal to build a condominium complex on the same property.
• A subscriber recently asked me if I knew why land was being cleared near where State Highway 121 meets Business 121. I informed her that a company called Lovett Industrial is building a 257,600-square-foot warehouse (plus a couple of office buildings) on land that straddles the Coppell-Lewisville border. The Coppell City Council signed off on the associated zoning changes about a year ago. The inquiring subscriber was grateful for the details, even though I’d dashed her daydreams of a Central Market.
• Here’s something else that happened one year ago: The Irving City Council approved the latest zoning changes requested by the owners of the Fun Movie Grill on Walton Boulevard. Yet that multiplex remains boarded up, with temporary fences blocking access to its parking lot. Your roving reporter emailed Thakkar Developers last week to ask when we might expect to see movies projected onto its screens. My inquiry has gone unanswered.
Congratulations Are in Order
• Congratulations to the Coppell High School football team, which was in a 21-7 hole at halftime of their playoff game against Prosper on Friday night. But the Cowboys scored 28 unanswered points in the third quarter to take a 35-21 lead, and they secured a 35-27 victory when Scott Fishpaw intercepted a pass in the end zone as time expired. Coppell’s second-round matchup with Lake Highlands is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday at John Clark Stadium in Plano.
• Congratulations to the Coppell High School marching band, which finished seventh among the 40 schools that qualified for the UIL’s Class 6A state contest in San Antonio last week. However, it’s our neighbors in Lewisville ISD that should really be tooting their horns; marching bands from that district earned three of the top six slots. Hebron was the champion, Flower Mound finished third, and Marcus was one spot ahead of Coppell.
• Congratulations to Coppell High School graduates Blake and Garrett Martin. The brothers are the managing partners of Hoppin’ Grapevine, which opened on Oct. 12, and they’ve already been honored in the Coppell Chamber of Commerce’s Taste of Coppell event on Nov. 2. They won the Best Appetizer award for their birria nachos. Other winners include Pinstack’s build your own mac and cheese bar (Best Entree), Macklin’s Catering’s Korean pork belly (Best International), and Coppell ISD’s pumpkin mousse (Best Dessert)
• Congratulations to the members of the Kindred Writing Collective, who hosted the inaugural Coppell Writing Fair on Nov. 9 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons. The fair’s lineup of Coppell-area authors included Russell Cowdrey, Kimberly J. Smith, Claire St. Amant, Alex Temblador, and Phillip L. Wray. They also let your correspondent run his mouth for a while.
Community Calendar
Coppell Car Meet Up: If you have a car that you want to show off, bring it to the parking lot of JC’s Burger Bar between 4 and 6 p.m. today.
Assistance League of Coppell: The next meeting is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Thursday at Valley Ranch Baptist Church (1501 E. Belt Line Road). A Dutch treat lunch will follow.
Big Book Sale: The Friends of the Coppell Public Library will sell books between 4 and 7 p.m. on Friday, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday, and between 1 and 4 p.m. on Nov. 24 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons.
Gobble Wobble: The annual 5K and fun run benefiting Coppell Animal Services will begin at 8 a.m. on Saturday at Andrew Brown Park East.
A Christmas Carol: Theatre Coppell will stage nine performances of Charles Dickens’ classic tale about Ebenezer Scrooge. The first one is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Dec. 6.
A subscriber who frequents the Coppell Senior and Community Center asked me for more details on its nine new cardio machines. According to a quote from Marathon Fitness, they include three treadmills, two recumbent bikes, a rower, a “converging crossramp” with fixed arms, another “converging crossramp” with moving arms, and a “total body recumbent stepper.”
My husband and I love gathering around my phone on Sundays for our weekly Coppell update. Thanks for all the great info! As a long time Coppell resident, I’m excited about those basketball hoops being replaced. We 🩵 our parks!