Manara-CS090731
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Manara Receives
Final Approval
By Jean Murph
Manara Academy, a charter
school to be located inCoppell
at 140 S, Heartz, received for-
mal ordinance approval for a
zoning change by a unanimous
vote of the Coppell City Council
Tuesday night in regular session,
The school will occupy the site
of the former Christ Our Savior
Lutheran School, and the 326
spaces, kindergarten through
grade five, are already filled, ac-
cording to a school spokesman,
The motion, made by Coun-
cilman Marvin Franklin, included
an amendment that outlined
eight or more provisions that the
school must meet, including pro-
viding a bus loop, staff supervi-
sion of vehicle arrivals and de-
partures, staggering evening
school events, providing a no-
play 10- foot buffer from homes,'
regulation of off-street parking
and prohibition of drop-off and
pick-up on adjacent streets,
Councilmen Marsha Tunnell
and Tiin Brancheau voted
against including the amend-
ment, with Tunnell questioning
how the provisions will be en-
forced and the burden this will
place on City staff, She said it
was "unfair to make a school fol-
low items not regularly required
of other schools."
Two Coppell police officers
were on hand during the meet-
ing in anticipation of a possible
crowd for the Manara agenda
item, The item was not open for
public discussion, but a number
of residents spoke during Citi-
zens' Appearances at the start
of the meeting,
leffPowell, speaking for sev-
eral in the audience, asked the
Council, "Even if you don't deny
it (the school zoning change), in-
elude the stipulations that
Manara has agreed to,"
Also speaking before the
Council were several residents
who live on Armstrong in Coppell,
see MANARA on page 15
QIitizens' ci\b&omtc · LIVING · JULY 31, 2009
MANARA
from page 1
who complained about noise prob-
lems of an adjacent subdivision un-
der construction, One resident said
the neighborhood was awakened
as early as 6:30 a.m. with hammer-
ing and asked that the City's ordi-
nance addressing construction be
revised, City Manager Clay Phillips
reported that the ordinance is be-
ing worked on.
Another resident complained
about the homes being "oversized,
Our privacy is being ruined." Sev-
eral complained about the two-story
homes looking down into their
swimming pools.
On a third subject during Citi-
r'
zens' Appearances, a resident ques-
tioned why Kimbel Court was be-
ing repaved at this time,
"Why would we spend that
, money on a street that he said was
not in bad condition," he asked,
"How does the Council make its
decisions? What kind of analysis
do we do? What's in it forCoppell?"
In other action, the Council:
oApproved TXMAS quote through
Mil\er Office Interiors for supply
and instal\ation of furnishings for
the Coppel\ Senior and Community
Center in the amount of $65,895,28,
oHeard an economic development
report, including news that Coppell
is experiencing a "bit of a slow-
down," about one-'third of the ac-
tivity of this time last year, but still
bringing in 325,000 square-feet of
business and industrial space.
oHeard that Councilman Marsha
Tunnel\, who serves as liaison to
the North Texas Council of Govern-
ments, has been appointed by that
group to the Trinity River Corridor
Committee,