Coppell Chronicle Vol. 6, No. 27

I would like to announce the impending arrival of a new restaurant in Coppell, but I don’t know its name. All I have to go on is a logo that I don’t recognize. I’ve included that logo in today’s edition, but it’s behind the paywall, because I’m trying to run a business here, folks.

A pickleball project that went sour is a step closer to being fixed.

One of the items on the agenda for this week’s Coppell City Council meeting is a $94,000 contract with EliteTrax Surfaces to repair, resurface, and renovate eight courts at the Wagon Wheel Tennis & Pickleball Center. Assuming the council approves the contract, Trophy Club-based EliteTrax will be cleaning up a mess blamed on another company.

In November of 2024, the City Council approved a $56,784 contract with Sports King of Texas — a firm with a Coppell post office box as its mailing address — to transform two tennis courts into eight pickleball courts. Shortly thereafter, those courts experienced “major cracking and delamination,” Wagon Wheel Tennis & Pickleball Center manager Joe Weber wrote in a memo to the council.

Director of Community Experiences Jessica Carpenter has said her staff is working with the city attorney to get a refund from Sports King of Texas. During a July hearing before the board of the Coppell Recreation Development Corporation, pickleball enthusiast Stephen Harris said the contractor must be held responsible.

“If this was a private citizen, and this happened in their backyard, the private citizen would hold the contractor responsible every single time,” Harris said during the hearing. “And the private citizen would win every single time.”

(See “Pickleball Players Voice Their Concerns” in Vol. 6, No. 23.)

An email I sent to the address on the Sports King of Texas website has not been answered. The only other bid for the resurfacing job in 2024 was from Grapevine’s 365 Custom Courts, which wanted a lot more money than Sports King: $115,036.

In his recent memo to the council, Weber said EliteTrax was one of three vendors to submit proposals for the redo. He did not name the other two companies or detail their bid amounts.

“Following a thorough evaluation, EliteTrax Sports Surfaces was selected based on their proven track record, outstanding professional references, and demonstrated commitment to quality,” Weber wrote. “Their history of consistent execution, attention to detail, and reliable performance on similar projects gives staff high confidence in their ability to deliver exceptional results safely, on time, and within budget.”

Coincidentally, this month’s meeting of the Coppell Parks and Recreation Board included Weber’s annual report to that panel. During that meeting, he said the city’s pickleball courts average 540 reservations per year, and his facility’s open-play sessions attract about 8,000 pickleball players annually.

Weber also told the Parks and Recreation Board that there may be issues with the foundation beneath the courts.

“There’s some things that we’ll have to see, damage wise, with the foundation. Once they scrape everything away, we’ll be able to see where the foundation is at, as a whole,” Weber said during the Aug. 3 meeting. “We’re hoping that it’s in a good enough shape where it can be repaired and ready for play. If it’s something bigger, that’ll be a bridge that we’ll cross at that time.”

The only person who signed up to speak during the “Citizens’ Appearance” portion of that Parks and Recreation Board meeting was Barb Schmidt, who said the city’s pickleball players are excited to see the courts fixed. She also gave a shoutout to Weber and his team.

“They have worked really hard to make the facility for pickleball very, very robust,” she said.

Schmidt left that meeting as soon as she finished speaking, because she was on her way to play pickleball, of course.

Good news for the volunteers at the Coppell ISD Education Foundation: A majority of the Coppell City Council is willing to give you all of the dollars you asked for.

Each summer, the council considers funding requests from service organizations and arts organizations. Four weeks ago, I published an article that said every organization would be granted the amount it requested, except for two: The Coppell ISD Education Foundation would get $10,000 as opposed to $61,000, and Love Thy Neighbor would receive $3,000 instead of $5,000.

(See “Council Debates Groups’ Funding Requests” in Vol. 6, No. 23.)

The $53,000 shaved from the budget represented less than 9 percent of the combined ask from 15 service organizations: $601,775.

During an Aug. 4 budget workshop, Council Member Don Carroll proposed restoring the $53,000 because he said that relatively small amount would not move the needle in terms of the tax rate.

“There is a true benefit to the community,” Carroll said, “and it doesn’t change our math on this budget really at all.”