Coppell Chronicle Vol. 4, No. 5
Irving Councilman Spills the H-E-Beans • Plans for Fire Station Keep Trucking Along • Levee District Needs a Few New Pumps • Irving Libraries to Shift Mature Content
I owe an apology to a woman whose name I failed to catch at J. Macklin’s on Tuesday. I was having dinner with my family, and she was seated at the next table with five other ladies. She shouted my name, and when I looked over with a confused expression, she identified herself as a subscriber before touting this newsletter to her companions as a great source of information.
There’s probably a smooth way to respond to such situations, but this doofus certainly couldn’t find it. Sorry about that.
Irving Councilman Spills the H-E-Beans
I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: I am not reporting that Dallas County’s first H-E-B grocery store will be built in Coppell ISD. But Al Zapanta sure is!
Zapanta was among a handful of Irving officials who met with Coppell ISD trustees and administrators at Canyon Ranch Elementary School on Monday night. During that meeting, he said this:
In case you couldn’t hear him, Zapanta said, “H-E-B is coming to us.” Before issuing that comment, the Irving City Council member turned away from the microphone and toward a few Coppell ISD administrators sitting behind him, because “I want to say something nice for you ladies.” What a charmer!
This was the first time I’d heard Zapanta — or anybody — say on the record that H-E-B will occupy a building that’s supposed to be constructed on a vacant tract along the westbound service road of Interstate 635, between Olympus Boulevard and Belt Line Road. Zapanta hinted at it during a January council meeting but stopped himself from uttering those three magic letters.
(See “Irving Official Drops Big Hint About H-E-B” in Vol. 3, No. 49)
After Zapanta spilled the beans on Monday, Coppell ISD Superintendent Brad Hunt said he was excited because H-E-B is “a huge supporter of public education. I mean, they are putting their money where their mouth is in so many ways.”
The land along 635 is owned by LTFI Investors, a firm that shares a Los Angeles address with a company called LaTerra Development. In December of 2022, LaTerra managing director Chris Tourtellotte said this to the Irving City Council: “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.”
(See “Storage Units OK’d With Promise of Store” in Vol. 2, No. 42)
During a pair of public hearings in January of this year, LTFI was represented by Joe LaCroix, a civil engineer with Fort Worth-based Baird, Hampton & Brown. On Thursday, I sent emails to LaCroix’s address, LaTerra’s address for general inquiries, and a group address for H-E-B’s public affairs department, asking if anyone would like to comment on Zapanta’s latest comments. The only response came from H-E-B.
“We have not purchased property in Irving for our H-E-B format at this time,” said Mabrie Jackson, the grocery chain’s managing director of public affairs. “If that should change, we will certainly let the media know.”
Monday’s joint meeting between the Coppell ISD Board of Trustees and a portion of Irving’s City Council was the first of its kind. Zapanta, who represents the north end of the city, was joined by Brad LaMorgese, who represented that area before being elected to one of the council’s two at-large seats, and City Manager Chris Hillman. Mayor Rick Stopfer, Irving’s only elected official who resides in Coppell ISD, was there briefly before leaving for another engagement.
Here are a few other interesting tidbits from that meeting:
• It turns out that David Caviness is Coppell ISD’s only trustee who has never lived in Irving. Jobby Mathew and Ranna Raval are Irving residents, and the other four all lived there before they were elected. “It’s great that many of you have had a chance to live in Irving,” Hillman said. “David, it’s never too late.”
• Hillman hinted that Irving cops might be able to serve as school resource officers at the two Coppell ISD campuses in Irving. Canyon Ranch Elementary has a Dallas County sheriff’s deputy on site, and the SRO at Valley Ranch Elementary is a security officer employed by D&L Entertainment Services.
• LaMorgese said there are plans to install Texas U-turns on either side of Belt Line where it crosses I-635. That news prompted Mathew to raise both hands, as if he was saying “Hallelujah” or signaling a touchdown.
Plans for Fire Station Keep Trucking Along
Although some neighbors are opposed to a fire station being built on Moore Road, it appears to be a done deal.
The plans for Fire Station 5 were the subject of a public hearing before the Coppell Planning and Zoning Commission on Thursday. Three people signed up to speak during the hearing, and all three said the property next to Austin Elementary School is a bad spot for a fire station. They expressed concerns about traffic, safety, and property values.
Colleen Fink lives directly across Moore from the school. She suggested that the vacant tract at the south end of Mockingbird Lane, where the Frontenis Center once stood, would be a better location for a fire station. After hearing PGAL engineer Ken Pope describe the property next to Austin as a “very tight site” and a “tiny little site,” Fink questioned why the city wants to build a nearly 12,000-square-foot fire station there: “Are we just trying to fit in a fire station somewhere because we have free land?”
The building at 157 S. Moore Road, which the city has owned since 1984, was known as Fire Station 2 until it was converted into a theater in the 1990s. The building has been vacant since 2021, and the City Council has already authorized its demolition to make way for Fire Station 5.
Martha Allison Blewer, who lives a block north of Fink, said there’s a lot more cars, trucks, and bicycles on Moore now than there were in the ’90s. She also pointed out that drivers weren’t as distracted in those days because we didn’t have smartphones back then.
“Safety is my paramount concern,” Blewer said. “Otherwise, if I felt it were adequate and it were safe, I would love having this fire station at this location.”
Deputy Fire Chief Tim Oates explained that the Moore Road location is ideal because it’s in the middle of a heat map based on incidents requiring his department’s attention. Fire Chief Kevin Richardson showed that heat map to the City Council in 2022 when he first floated the idea of a fifth fire station.
When Commissioner Kent Hafemann asked about any alternative locations, Oates said the city inquired about buying the vacant land behind Speedy K Mart, but the owner wasn’t interested in selling. Before that discussion could go much further, City Attorney Bob Hager reminded the commissioners that the question before them was the appropriateness of the zoning on Moore.
“You don’t get to make a choice of where the fire station goes. That belongs to City Council,” Hager said. “So I would advise you to address the issue of the zoning.”
Shortly thereafter, the commissioners approved the zoning with a few variances, including parking in the front yard and a 2-foot encroachment into the side yard. Those variances will be the subject of one more public hearing during the City Council’s April 9 meeting.
Levee District Needs a Few New Pumps
This article comes with a soundtrack. Just to make things more exciting, go ahead and pump up the volume on “When the Levee Breaks” by Led Zeppelin.
Denton County Levee Improvement District No. 1 is a taxing entity responsible for the levee adjacent to the Denton Creek channel, the channel itself, and a handful of lakes and ponds north of the creek. The district has six pumps at its facility on Lake Vista Drive in Lewisville, just outside Coppell’s boundaries, but half of them don’t work at the moment.
When the district’s three directors got together on Wednesday morning, they were briefed on how much money it would take to buy new pumps. District operator Tim Benefiel said the 40-year-old pumps on Lake Vista are difficult to repair because they feature parts that are no longer manufactured.
District attorney Julia Kugle said she didn’t want to think about what might happen if multiple pumps were down during a heavy rain event. “This is my worst fear,” she said.
District engineer Parker Moore said a $6.5 million bond issue would buy at least two new pumps — maybe three. But he said an $8.1 million bond issue would be more likely to cover three new pumps and their generators.
Kugle said a $6.5 million bond issue would lead to a 1.8-cent increase in the tax rate, which would cause the district’s average tax bill to go up by $68 per year. But selling $8.1 million worth of bonds would increase the tax rate by 2.3 cents, which would make the district’s average tax bill rise by $87 annually.
Because the larger bond sale would cost the average taxpayer only about $20 more per year, the district’s directors — Ben Carruthers, Richard Ching, and Jack Davis — authorized Moore to submit an application for an $8.1 million bond issue to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. Districts like this one cannot sell bonds until that state agency gives them a thumbs-up.
Last November, a majority of the district’s voters authorized the board to issue up to $27.3 million worth of bonds. That was only the second bond election in the district’s history. In 1986, voters OK’d up to $20.1 million worth of debt. The board has issued five series of bonds since then, but it still has $4.1 million to play with from that ’86 bucket.
Your correspondent was one of four people observing Wednesday’s meeting. To my right was a civil engineer for the City of Coppell. To my left was a man whose Lewisville office overlooks the lake behind the pump station, which means his clients see all the litter along the shoreline. Benefiel, the district operator, said his landscaping crew would ramp up their trash collection.
The other observer was a district resident who didn’t stick around for the whole meeting. Carruthers, for one, was sorry to see him go. Attending board meetings as a curious resident of the levee improvement district was how Carruthers got tapped for service as a director, and he joked that he was hoping to recruit the guy who left early as his replacement. Keep that in mind if you plan to attend the board’s next meeting in May.
Irving Libraries to Shift Mature Content
Books with mature content will be moved to different areas of Irving’s three public libraries, but children will not be restricted from entering those areas.
Irving officials have been discussing library books for a while. On Thursday, Library Director Lynette Roberson appeared before the City Council for the first time since October to present her staff’s latest plans.
Roberson said her staff is defining “mature content” as “content containing graphic depictions of violence or sexual acts.” That definition encompasses written materials with or without photos or drawings. With that definition in mind, the librarians plan to make the following moves:
Juvenile materials with mature content will be moved to an expanded “Parenting” collection.
Young-adult nonfiction materials with mature content will be moved to the adult nonfiction collection.
Young-adult fiction materials with mature content will be moved to a new YA+ collection.
To accomplish all of that, Roberson said, each of the three libraries will have to be closed for at least half a day. The City Council has already adjusted the libraries’ budget so more shelves, signs, and labels can be purchased. The council has also approved the addition of one full-time librarian and one part-time assistant, but Roberson said those individuals have not yet been hired.
“We’re going to need additional help with processing these materials,” Roberson explained. “It’s not just the physical moving around of books. It’s going to be going into our catalog and reclassifying hundreds — possibly thousands — of items, and we’re going to need extra hands to do that.”
City Council Member Brad LaMorgese wants the libraries to go even further. He said all materials with mature content should be in one area, and he wants access to that area to be restricted to adults or children who have a parent’s written permission to be there. City Manager Chris Hillman said such a policy might present legal challenges, but LaMorgese said, “My preference would be to age restrict it, and if we have to defend it, we have to defend it.”
At the other end of the spectrum was Council Member Kyle Taylor, who said he’s philosophically opposed to moving books around based on their content, much less restricting access to certain areas.
“I’m not a big fan of really telling people what they can and cannot do, especially when it comes to something like this,” Taylor said. “In my opinion, it’s all protected by freedom of speech. It’s not my ability to be the parent of 260,000 people.”
After a few minutes of discussion, Hillman said it seemed like five council members were in favor of age restrictions and three were opposed to them. The problem was, this discussion was happening during the council’s work session, not their formal meeting. If they were going to enact age restrictions, Taylor said, they should take a recorded vote that would be part of their formal agenda.
Hillman requested an executive session so the council could consult the city attorney. When they returned to open session, Mayor Rick Stopfer said this: “We have moved forward with the presentation as presented.”
Chronicle Crumbs
• The Coppell Police Department responded to reports of gunfire on Friday afternoon at or near the trailer park on Ruby Road. A juvenile suspect was arrested, police said. There were no known injuries because the intended victim or victims fled the scene.
• I learned from The Sidekick, the student newspaper at Coppell High School, that Cowboys basketball coach Clint Schnell has resigned after six seasons leading the program. “It becomes a point in your coaching career where you feel like you want to go and seek out something new and figure out something different and kind of get a fresh start somewhere,” Schnell said.
• The March 5 primaries are nearly three weeks in our rearview mirrors, but huge signs promoting Francine Ly are still posted along many Coppell roads. Ly lost to Sam Eppler in the Democratic primary for Congressional District 24.
(After reading that final Crumb, my editor/wife asked me if there are rules about how long such signs can stay up. I don’t know. To me, it’s just common courtesy to collect all signs for a losing campaign in a timely manner.)
Community Calendar
Family Reading Night: The Assistance League of Coppell presents this weekly series between 6 and 7 p.m. on Thursdays at the Coppell YMCA. Each Thursday through April 18, local authors will read from their books that are appropriate for young children. This week features Brit Mott sharing her Silly Similes and John Alexander reading Words That Soar. The program is free, but books are available for purchase and autographing if families choose.
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 Thursday, Friday, or Saturday.
Alice in Wonderland: Ballet Ensemble of Texas will take you through the looking glass at 3 p.m. on Saturday at the Coppell Arts Center.
Four Way Test Speech Contest: The Rotary Club of Coppell is offering cash prizes to high school students. The contest is scheduled for April 4 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons, and the registration deadline is March 31. The field will be limited to 20 contestants.
Silver Line Breakfast & Coffee Community Update: Representatives from DART and Silver Line contractor Archer Western Herzog will be at George Coffee + Provisions between 9 and 11 a.m. on April 2.
Charlotte’s Web: Theatre Coppell will stage nine performances of a play based on E.B. White’s beloved book. The first show is scheduled for 8 p.m. on April 5 at the Coppell Arts Center.
Coffee With a Cop: Coppell police officers will hang out at Gas Coffee (833 S. Denton Tap Road) between 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. on April 6.
Solar Eclipse Experience: Frontiers of Flight Museum staff will bring their portable planetarium to the Cozby Library and Community Commons between 1 and 4 p.m. on April 6.
Bohemian Queen: A friend of mine who is really into tribute bands tells me that $46 is too steep a price for such acts. If you disagree, you can catch these Queen cosplayers at 2 or 6 p.m. on April 6 at the Coppell Arts Center.
Solar Eclipse Mocktail Party: Although the space-themed drinks at this Cozby Library and Community Commons event will be non-alcoholic, this party scheduled from 2 to 3 p.m. on April 7 is for adults only.
Vibrant Tones: The Coppell Children’s Chorus will present their spring show at 3 p.m. on April 7 at the Coppell Arts Center.
Total Eclipse of the Park: Perhaps you’ve heard there will be a total eclipse on April 8? You may want to soak up the lack of rays at Andrew Brown Park East, where there will be lawn games, complimentary popcorn, giveaways, eclipse-themed music, and other fun activities between noon and 3 p.m.
Fun, Food & Grooves in Old Town: A band called Elevation will perform outside the Coppell Arts Center from 5:30 to 7 p.m. on April 12, and a few food trucks are scheduled to arrive at 5.
Sorority 101: The Coppell Alumnae Panhellenic Association will present information on sorority recruitment between 2:30 and 3:30 p.m. on April 13 at the Cozby Library and Community Commons. All girls who are about to graduate from high school are invited to attend with a parent or guardian. RSVPs are requested via the link.
The Commodores: This Motown act with a legendary name is scheduled to perform at the Coppell Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. on April 13, but if you want to hear original member Lionel Richie, you’ll need to drive to Thackerville, Okla., on April 14.
Always informative and interesting!
The HEB story is good news! I hope you realize that if it doesn’t come to fruition, you’ll be in big trouble! 🤣🤣🤣
Great issue, Dan. I loved the HEB story, nicely written and documented.