Old Town-CS090220 (3)
<!Iitizcns' J\b6ncatc · FEBRUARY 20, 2009
PAGE 2
Opinion
What is the City of Coppell Thinking?
By Haley Moore
Either the City of Coppell isn't
being honest, or they aren't on the
ball.
Either way, I am, shall we say,
concerned with the City's plan to
develop old downtown into the
Carter-Crowley tract.
For those who missed last
week's paper, let me break it down
for you: the City plans to tear down
a Coppell business on W. Bethel
Road to build a parking-lot lined
street, leading to a pavilion in the
middle of an empty field.
What goes in the middle of the
pavilion? ,The City doesn't seem
to be sure yet. They know they
want to build a permanent struc-
ture for the Coppell Farmers Mar-
ket, but the rest of the space
doesn't seem to be defined yet.
More importantly, what goes
around the pavilion, in the lot that
seems to be perfectly shaped to cre-
ate a quaint faux town square? The
City either doesn't know, or won't
say.
The City has said it is in talks
with a developer to utilize the space.
My question is, where does that
leave the existing businesses in old
downtown? Whatever company
builds the developments around that
pavilion - the "destination" that the
City wants to create - they will
most likely be expensive to rent.
The businesses on Bethel Road
work ceaselessly to improve old
downtown, to hold events like the
Old Town Christmas party with
carriage rides through the surround-
ing neighborhoods, caroling, magic
shows, hot cocoa, and a Christmas
tree where you could leave toys for
charity, and the Old Town Fall Fest
which brought an astounding 2,000
people into the old downtown area.
These people have a sense of in-
vestment in their area that is the
stuff commercially successful his-
toric districts are made of. If old
downtown effectively moves into
the Carter-Crowley tract, they de-
serve to move with it.
Will the people currently running
businesses on W. Bethel Road be able
to afford these new "destination"
properties? Or will the lIkely ten-
ants for these newly-minted build-
ings be large retail businesses? We
may end up creating something that
looks less like the charming historic
downtown of Grapevine and more
like the prefabricated outdoor malls
of Addison.
When the City moved the historic
Kirkland House to share a corner
with two other historic structures -
the windrnilland the old Minyard
store - I thought that they were
developing a historic comer leading
into old downtown. Grapevine's
historic district has a comer like this,
housing a log cabin and a charming
open air market where local artisans
sell their work under a grape arbor.
Now it appears they were just get-
ting the historical detritus out of the
way, cleaning up so that they can
build this "New Old Coppell."
And of course, as always, there
is the Khosravi tract. If the City re-
ally plans to move the Farmer Mar-
ket to some swanky new digs in this
pavilion, is there any reason that this
parking-lined road - the one the City
wants to demolish the Khosravi fam-
ily business for - couldn't be built
one block east, over the existing road
alongside the current Farmers Mar-
ket? The space is already there,
unutilized. If they hurry, they could
even lay the new pavement and park-
ing before the Farmers Market starts
its new season in April.
As it stands, it looks like this plan
will cost the City money, and the ben-
efits to people of Coppell are as of
yet undefined. It will even destroy
a local business and pull revenue
away from the existing old down-
town area.
Why? What is the City thinking,
that makes them act in a way that is
so misguided?
The Citizens' Advocate (USPS 750-270) is published each week by Danmara,
Inc., 446 W. Bethel, Coppell, TX 75019. Subscription rates are $20 per year.
Second-class postage paid at Coppell, TX. POSTMASTER: Send address
changes to: Citizens' Advocate, P.O. Box 557,446 W. Bethel Road, Coppell,
TX 75019, 972-462-8192.
Publisher: Jean Murph '
Associate Publisher: Lou Duggan
Martin Aldridge Manager: Kathryn Walker ,McKenna Hares
Naoya Chiba John Price Daniel Haley Moore
Fred Conger Jane Moore Dennis Ochei
Ben EuhusJanice Stovall
Trey Hares
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