Alexander Ct-CS090403
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12/26/1991
PUBLIC NORKS DEPT.
PO BOX 478
COPPELL TX 75019-0478
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APRIL 3,2009
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SERVING COPPELL, VALLEY RANCH AND HACKBERRY CREEK SINCE 1984
City, Mira Mar
Address Grievances
Hearing to be Continued Next Week
By Haley Moore
On Tuesday, March 31, the
City Council and Mira Mar De-
velopment met in a continuation
of last week's Council meeting
to hear more evidence on devel-
opment costs that Mira Mar is
seeking to be reimbursed.
The meeting, which took the
form of an evidentiary hearing,
is part of a lawsuit against the
City over a litany of items re-
garding Mira Mar's develop-
ment of the Alexander Court
subdivision at the northwest cor-
ner ofW. Bethel and Denton Tap
Roads, totaling 22 separate
costs. The Council heard evi-
dence regarding seven of these
items Tuesday night, including
storm drainage, concrete caps
over waterline construction on
Bethel Road, decorative col-
umns, retaining walls, dirt exca-
vation, and FEMA floodplain
study fees.
City Engineer Ken Griffin re-
vealed new information that
could invalidate one of Mira
Mar's claims regarding concrete
caps that were poured to fill in
the asphalt over water lines
crossing Bethel Road.
Mira Mar claimed that addi-
tional costs were incurred to
pour the caps.
According to Mira Mar, the
see CITY on page 19
Saturday's Earthfest Includes
Music, Vendors, Recycling
By Jane Moore
The City of Coppell invites
residents to its Earthfest cel-
ebration on Saturday, April 3,
with Ii ve music, a hybrid car
show, police motorcycle compe-
tition, "Kids Planet" games,
crafts and entertainment, recy-
cling of electronics and more.
The festivities, held at Town
Center, will begin at 9:00 a.m.
and last until 1 :00 p.m. The
Lewisville-based band "Shades
of Gray" will perform music
from the 1960s and 70s in the
new amphitheater behind Town
Center. Vendors will be on hand
with items including organic food,
hand-carved wood art, and hand-
made jewelry.
The event is also a conve-
nient time to drop off old elec-
tronics for recycling as well as
bulky trash items and usable
household items. Collection
points will be set up in the park-
ing lot of Town Center Elemen-
tary, 185 N. Heartz Road. An
electronics recycler will accept
see EARTH FEST on page 19
''''''''--
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After 25 Years, Citi~
Still Growing With
By .Jane Moore
When the first Citizens'
Advocate came off the press
March 26,1984, interest rates
were on the rise and houses
were selling like hotcakes.
Coppell, a developer's dream,
was ripe for the picking and
Jean Murph wasn't afraid to
report on some City leaders'
conflicts of interest, open
meetings violations and insider
deals with developers.
In fact, Murph started the
newspaper after a developer
bought the town's only regular
news publication (where
Murph \vas a reporter) and
shut it down. The paper's first
"office" was the back left table
by the pay phone at the local
Town Hall Budget
Meeting is April 7
The City of Coppell in-
vites all interested residents
to attend a Town Hall meet-
ing on Tuesday, April 7, to
address the 2009-2010 bud-
get process.
City staff members will
present information about the
budget and the process, and
then open the floor for citi-
zen comment.
The meeting will begin at
7:00 p.m. in Council cham-
bers at Town Center, 255
Parkway Boulevard.
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The Citizens' Advocatf
toric building at 446 V
continues reporting cc
Dairy Queen~ and 25 ye
the award-wiiming Citiz.
vocate might have abl
fice and fancier equipm
CISD StU(
GPA Polic:
By Jane MoO!
Coppell ISO is revie
policies on Grade Point I
to address concerns ab
sible GPA inflation for
who attend New Tech I
then transfer back to
High School.
One resident spok
open forum portion of~
School Board meeting r
the issue. Lisa Dunh
Board members that a f
in the top 31 percent of
at New Tech who trans
if I
CITY
from page 1
concrete was an unnecessary ex-
pense, since the road is scheduled
to be repaved.
However, according to Griffm,
City inspectors examined one of the
two water lines on Tuesday, and
found that no concrete was used to
cover them; instead the water lines
were covered with "fill." a thin ce-
ment that is usually used as a base
for the concrete cap.
"The fill is cement and concrete
and it hardens," Mira Mar Director
John Hawkins said.
On the issue of retaining walls
built inside the subdivision, Mira
Mar attorneys objected to the way
in which the City communicated its
construction requirements. Mira
Mar focused on handwritten notes
made on the Alexander Court plans
by the City engineering staff, and
said that the City did not properly
communicate that these did not rep-
resent a mandate to construct the
walls. Griffin said that the status of
the notes "was communicated to
their engineers."
At issue on several items were
Mira Mar's charges to home devel-
oper David Weekly, which pur-
chased the land from Mira Mar at
the conclusion of its development
work. The City and Mira Mar could
not come to an agreement on
whether David Weekly's payment
for budget overruns on the project
covered the same costs that the City
is being asked to cover.
Tuesday night's proceedings
represented the second five-hour
meeting on this suit, and the sec-
ond time Mira Mar's appeal has
POLICE
from page 5
and fi ve pounds, 2100 block Green-
stone Trail, 7:50 p.m.
March 24: Possession of Mari-
juana, between two and four
ounces, 2100 block Greenstone
Trail, 10:28 p.m.
March 24: Delivery of Con-
trolled Substance, hydrocodone,
between three and 28 grams, 2100
block Greenstone Trail, 10:28 p.m.
March 24: Delivery of Con-
trolled Substance, methadone, be-
tween one and four grams, 2100
block Greenstone Trail, 10:28 p.m.
March 24: Possession of Con-
trolled Substance, alprazolam, be-
tween three and 28 grams, 2100
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QIitiil'llS' ,-~bbomtl' · LIVING · APRIL 3, 2009
been submitted.
The State district court threw
out the City's original refusal to re-
imburse Mira Mar, made in 2007, and
ordered the City to revise its evi-
dentiary hearing procedure to allow
for cross-examination of witnesses.
During a cross-examination of
Griffin on the role that City-hired
surveying firm Kimberly Horn
played in handling FEMA flood-
plain approvals, Council member
Jayne Peters objected to the Mira
Mar attorney's use of sarcasm.
"Can we instruct counsel to lose
the attitude? We're all tired here,
too," Peters said.
The Council will reconvene next
Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. to hear evi-
dence on the remaining 10 items.
Executive Session Agenda
I.Consultation with City Attorney
I. Oil and Gas Ordinance
II. Economic development negotia-
tions
I. Development prospects west
of Belt Line/Denton Tap and south
pf Bethel Road and north of Sandy
Lake Road and west of Coppell
~oad.
EARTH FEST
~rom page 1
variety of items for free, and
charge a cash fee for computers,
~onitors and televisions. There will
also be a collection point for bulky
trash items and yard waste, and free
document shredding will be avail-
able. Metrocrest Social Services will
be on hand to accept donations of
usable household items such as
clothing.
laptop stolen, loss between $500
and $1,500, 1100 block Freeport
Parkway, I :46 p.m.
March 26: Theft of Property, em-
ployee stole gift cards from store,
loss between $1,500 and $20,000,
100 block N. Denton Tap Road, 2:21
p.m.
March 26: Burglary of Habita-
tion, 1300 block Coral Dr., 2:25 p.m.
March 26: Obscene Display or
Distribution, unknown person sent
text of obscene message using tele-
phone, 100 block Highland Meadow
Cr., 5: 19 p.m.
March 26: Theft of Property, bi-
cycle stolen, loss between $50 and
$500, 100 block Pecan Hollow, 5:33
p.m.
March 28: Possession of Mari-
juana, under two ounces, 21-year-
,,1.1 ..""\,, "'TP,tf'd. 1 00 block N.
25 YEARS
from page 5
erated newspapers around.
Of course, much has changed
since 1984. Murph's unrelenting
reporting helped bring about
changes in City government, in-
cluding the election of a new re-
form mayor, Lou Duggan, in 1985.
Murph still counts the
Advocate's first stories as the most
crucial, admitting that the evolu-
tion of the newspaper was almost
an afterthought.
"The most critical reporting
was trying to uncover and report
on some open meetings and open
records violations and conflict of
interest," she said. "When it was
over, I thought, 'Oh my gosh, I
have a business to run.'''
Of course Murph ran with it.
She hired Kathryn Walker, the
paper's current manager, in 1986,
and the two women put the paper
together on a typesetter machine
in a ramshackle old building on
Belt Line Road. Duggan, who
ClsD
from page 1
"We look for any ways that stu-
dents may gain an unfair advantage
through course-taking patterns
within a single high school, and now
that we have two high schools our
monitoring includes looking at ways
in which a student may gain an un-
fair advantage by transferring be-
tween high schools," Kettler said.
GPA policies at both schools
reward students for choosing to
take advanced courses. Recent data
indicates that the mean GPA was
slightly higher at New Tech than at
CHS for the ninth-grade through
one semester of coursework. Kettler
said administrators are determining
whether the difference is due to un-
fair advantage or a case of New Tech
students taking a greater number of
advanced courses. He said if any
unfair advantages were found, they
would be eliminated.
School Board members also
heard preliminary test results on re-
joined the statT a fe
helped incorporate c
the process. The t
along with the COIlll
has increased in po
about 2,700 in 1984 te
today. The paper m
ago to its current loc:
Road in the heart of I
With Murph on
inception and a con
time Coppell residen
Advocate has been h
community's growi,
daIs, tragedies and
and small. Coverin
Coppell School Oi!
Advocate reporters
the beat long enou~
line of City Coun,
Board members as .
superintendents ane
sues come and go.
core reporters ha'
proximately 600 C
300 School Board n
paper has recognizl
"Students of the "
by local schools.
''The memory ;
cent TAKS reading:
eighth grades.
Third grade ov(
dard at a 99 percen!
cent scored at th,
level. Denton Cre
bird Elementary
highest third-gra
scores - 82 perce
lowed closely at
mended, and 100]
dents met passing
Fifth graders
standard for readi
with 60 percel
Lakeside Element
est percentage
scores, with 67 pe
Eighth graden
at the 99 percent I
cent receiving co
CMS North had a
ing rate, with 80 Pf
In other bus in
. Heard in open
Plotsky, who repl
Tigers Baseball '
club wants to en'
CISD to use a ba!
HOCKEY
from page 17
The JV B lack Team finished the
season in second place with a
record of 18-4, and hopes to make it
back to the city championship game
The JV Red'
two games, to fi
second place wit
with wins over F
Bishop Lynch 6-
goal scorer, eil
Guderian, regisl
those games,
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