What S Happening in Copper Canyon May 2016

What’s Happening in Copper Canyon – May 2016

By Sue Tejml Mayor of Copper Canyon

Paul Klotz gives update on Children’s Advocacy Center of Denton County Council Presents $2,341 Annual Gift to CACDC Executive Director Dan Leal

County Commissioner Andy Eads presents new Cross Timbers Rotary Club

May 1 st Copper Canyon Celebration Event for 18 LISD Graduating Seniors And Announcement of $3,000 in College Scholarship Awards from Donations

Joint Appreciation Event for Town Commissioners and Committee Members!

Win-Win Settlement of Morningstar Lawsuit

Town Council listens to Resident Input on Orchid Hill Lane Speed Limit

Thank you to Town Administrator Donna Welsh for Spreadsheet Summarizing Copper Canyon Residents’ preferences for Speed Limit

Fannie Mae Cleaning Up foreclosed Home & Acreage at 648 Chinn Chapel

Town Council votes Unanimously to Nominate Jim Carter for Denco 911

Master Gardener Pat Pape Hosts Garden Tour of her 4.5 acres Sat. May 7th ______

Paul Klotz gives update on Children’s Advocacy Center of Denton County

Paul Klotz is both a Town resident and a Board Member of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Denton County. In 1997 the conviction rate of alleged physical and sexual abusers of children was a mere 8 per cent. But 15 years ago the CACDC was formed. Last year the conviction rate was an astounding 77%. Because the Children’s Advocacy Center brings together everyone on the prosecution team: law enforcement arresting officers, detectives, trained nurse sexual examiners with anatomically correct dolls, treating physicians, Child Protective Case Workers, CASA volunteers, Assistant District Attorneys, and non- perpetrating parents and relatives of the abused child. In 2015 the Advocacy Center treated 701 child victims. 95% of the children were victims of sexual abuse.

The Children’s Advocacy Center is located in Lewisville at 1854 Cain Drive, a half block south of FM 407 and several blocks west of I-35E. Visitors are welcome to tour the facility, but do call ahead. 972-317-2818

Council Presents $2,341 Annual Gift to CACDC Executive Director Dan Leal

Each year Copper Canyon receives back from the State a portion of court fines that must be used for limited child safety purposes such as: school crossing guards, child safety seats for automobiles, etc. The Town has no schools within its boundaries, so crossing guards are not needed. And the Council felt that Town residents could personally afford automobile safety seats for their children.

However, individuals capable of physical or sexual abuse of a child are often serial predators with multiple victims over a span of years. But the Children’s Advocacy Center has a reputation for obtaining convictions and putting these predators behind bars. Removing the people who abuse children from our communities pays the Town’s gift “forward” – it saves those children who might be future victims from what can be a life-altering, awful experience – both emotionally and physically!

County Commissioner Andy Eads presents new Cross Timbers Rotary Club

County Commissioner Andy Eads has been a Rotarian for many years. But he and other Rotarians decided in 2015 to found a new Cross Timbers Rotary Club that would encourage membership across Town boundaries in southern Denton County. Beginning with 60 members, the Club has dramatically expanded to 95 individuals. The Club meets from 8-9 a.m. every Friday morning at the Bridlewood Country Club in western Flower Mound. The morning meetings recess promptly at 9 a.m., as many members must report to work.

Cross Timbers Rotary’s first fund raiser was a Luncheon, also at Bridlewood Country Club. The first time event raised an amazing $35,000!?! These donations will fund a variety of charitable causes in southern Denton County! Congratulations to Commissioner Eads for an incredibly vigorous launch of a new service organization. (For questions or suggestions email the Commissioner at [email protected].)

May 1 st Copper Canyon Celebration Event for 18 LISD Graduating Seniors

19 Copper Canyon seniors will graduate this May – and this year 18 are students at Lewisville ISD’s Marcus High School and one attends Lakeland Christian Academy in Lewisville! Each senior will receive a $100 towards their college tuition, a full size Lone Star Flag with a certificate in their name certifying that the flag has actually flown over the Texas Capitol in Austin (compliments of our State Legislator Tan Parker), and gift photos by Council Member Bill Castleman (a professional photographer) of each Senior individually and with their parents and other family members who come with them to the Celebration Event!

The Senior Celebration Event is May 1st, Sunday afternoon from 3-5 p.m., at Mayor Sue and Emil Tejml’ s home, 835 Orchid Hill Lane. Parking is on the south side of Orchid Hill and on Canyon Bluff cul de sac and Landseer Drive which are accessed from the north side of Orchid Hill.

Announcement of $3,000 in College Scholarship Awards from Donations

In addition, a select committee of Judges - from both Copper Canyon and Denton County - will present a total of $3,000 in donations for College Scholarship Awards to the three seniors who timely submitted their completed scholarship application. The Scholarship Awards go directly to the college where each student is already admitted and is applied to their tuition. Judges and Scholarship Recipients will be announced in next month’s “What’s Happening in Copper Canyon” column.

The Scholarships are NOT funded by Town property taxes or revenue. Sales of the Copper Canyon Cookbook, and its extensive 2013 and 2014 Updates, originally funded the college scholarships and the gifts to graduating Town seniors. But, of the 250 original limited edition of the Copper Canyon Cookbook, only 16 complete cookbooks remain.

Scholarship funding is now supplied by donations from current and former Council Members Steve Hill, Charlie Nicholas, Dave Svatik and wife Dale Svatik, Valerie Cannaday, Bill Castleman, Emil and Sue Tejml - and longtime residents Annell and Roy Bradford, and a kind and generous resident Donor who prefers to remain anonymous. Additional contributors are Brown and Hofmeister law firm through our Town Attorney Terry Welch; Halff Associates, our Town engineering firm, through consultant Jim Carter; and Republic Services, the Town’s recycle and trash collector for decades, through their longtime Municipal Services Manager Jeri Harwell!

Volunteer Appreciation Event for Commissioners and Committee Members

The Town of Copper Canyon is also hosting its annual Appreciation Event for our Commissioners and Committee Members in conjunction with the Senior Celebration Event. It is a traditional opportunity for our Council and our Staff to “Thank” volunteers for the time they spend helping our Town in so many different ways!

For instance: Commissioners and Alternates of Planning & Zoning and Board of Adjustment, our tireless and dedicated Trail Advisory Committee and Trail Special Projects Chairman, the Taskforce for the Economic Development of the Town Center on FM 407, our annual Town Clean-Up Day, our Board Member for Upper Trinity Regional Water District, our wonderful Cookbook and Hostess Committees, and our current and former Scholarship Judges and Donors to Copper Canyon’s College Scholarship Awards!

Our Cookbook Committee and Hostess Committee are renowned for the smorgasbord of homemade desserts and hors d’oeuvres they individually prepare for this happy Town Event! Also, if you have not had our volunteer professional photographer (our Council Member Bill Castleman!) take your photo for the collage of various committees to hang in our Council Chambers, please come early at 2:30 p.m. for the photo shoot.

Seniors and Volunteers - Please, please RSVP

Please RSVP to Town Administrator Donna Welsh if you are, or are not, attending the Senior and Volunteer Appreciation Event: 940-241-2677 Ext. 3 or [email protected]. Seniors, please include the names of any family members who are attending with you. This will help the Town prepare individual nametags and provide for adequate refreshments. Our Cookbook Committee and Hostess Committee are renowned for the smorgasbord of homemade desserts and hors d’oeuvres they individually prepare for this happy Town Event! There will also be door prizes for drawing! Former Mayor Larry Johnson has contributed THREE $100 Gift Certificates to his incredible Argentine restaurant Fogo de Chao in Addison; and Matt Mortimer often contributes Gift Certificates to his very popular Blue Goose Cantina in the nearby Shops of Highland Village. Town Administrator Donna Welsh recruits Gift Certificates from McDonalds, Chick-Fil-A, and other local eateries for small brothers and sisters attending the senior event - and for local coaches of sporting teams and Scout Masters who need refreshments for their Troop!

We are looking forward to honoring our Commissioners and Committee Volunteers and each graduating Senior and their attending parents and family!

NOTE: Due to limitations in capacity and parking space at both Town Hall and the Mayor’s home, A Fall Volunteer Appreciation Event will honor our 18 Adopt- a-Spot volunteers and approximately 50 Block Captains for Neighborhood Watch!

Win-Win Settlement of Morningstar Lawsuit

This lawsuit was only the second one filed against Copper Canyon in the past 11 years. The only prior lawsuit was filed jointly against Flower Mound, Highland Village, subdivision Terracina’s developer, Toll Brothers home builders, and Copper Canyon. The issue concerned drainage runoff on Chinn Chapel Road onto ranch land in Highland Village south of the railroad tracks. Copper Canyon was dismissed from that law suit without liability and with prejudice against the Highland Village landowner refiling against the Town.

My personal “Thanks” to our Town Attorney Terry Welch for his excellent legal and practical advice! It has kept Copper Canyon virtually free of expensive and litigious lawsuits over the past decade. And for the guidance of his Brown and Hofmeister legal partner Ed Voss, whose specialty is representation during actual trial litigation.

The Morningstar lawsuit settlement results in:

(1)An additional 17 acres in Copper Canyon’s ETJ, or Extra Territorial Jurisdiction, being annexed into the Town.

Copper Canyon is a General Law municipality under State Law and cannot unilaterally annex adjoining land without a Home Rule Charter. A Home Rule Charter requires a minimum municipal population of 5,000 people and a positive citywide election on the proposed Charter. Our Town only has a population of less than 1400 and will probably never reach the threshold of 5,000 residents for the option of passing a Home Rule Charter. So annexation of any land into Copper Canyon requires a voluntary Petition to Annex by all the legal landowners in that specific area of Copper Canyon’s ETJ.

(2) The 17 acres are part of a 42 acre tract on Copper Canyon Road, known currently as Camp Summit. The future developer has agreed to 42 residential lots, with a minimum of 3,500 sq. ft. homes, 90% masonry (an upgrade to our current Town requirement of 80% masonry), and a minimum of 3 car garages per home. The subdivision will be gated, which reduces crime, and will have concrete private streets which will be maintained in the future by an HOA and not the Town.

(3) Lantana residents will not be able to cross through the subdivision to access Copper Canyon Road. This is a major advantage to Copper Canyon, as Copper Canyon Road already carries a significant amount of commuter traffic.

The lawsuit settlement is an apparent win-win for both the landowner and Copper Canyon!

Town Council listens to Resident Input on Orchid Hill Lane Speed Limit

Three years ago the Council asked for input from Town residents on the Speed Limit on Orchid Hill Lane. The Council then gave priority to the preference of Town residents who actually lived on Orchid Hill Lane. Many of those individuals walked, or walked with their pets, on Orchid Hill. And, many of those same residents personally mowed the right-of-ways adjacent to Orchid Hill Lane. Those residents almost unanimously asked that the speed limit on Orchid Hill Lane not exceed 30 MPH. In 2013 the Town Council honored the residents’ request.

However, since then many Town residents have asked that (1) Orchid Hill’s speed limit be raised to35 or 40 mph; and (2) that the Town’s perimeter roads - Copper Canyon Road, Chinn Chapel Road, and Orchid Hill Lane - all have a uniform speed limit of 35 or 40 mph. The Town’s ordinances are not etched in stone, and the Council will reconsider items that are receiving a large number of complaints. The Council considered the speed limit on Orchid Hill Lane, and all perimeter Town roads, at the Monday April 11th Council Meeting. Notice of the meeting was emailed to all residents on Orchid Hill Lane, and roads that access Orchid Hill – Landseer, Abbott, Meadow Lake, Lake Trail Drive, and Canyon Bluff Court – and to residents on Chinn Chapel Road north of the railroad tracks, Mobile Drive, and Blackjack Lane. Approximately 300 Town Residents have signed up for the Town’s “email blast.” Those Residents were also alerted to the Orchid Hill speed limit agenda item and asked to submit comments. All Town residents were welcome to attend the meeting and offer their input on the speed limit on our three Town perimeter roads.

Many thanks to Town Administrator Donna Welsh for preparing a spreadsheet with names, addresses, and verbatim comments of all residents who sent emails, or telephoned Town Hall, or came to the Council Meeting in person on the subject. Almost all residents responding thanked the Council for asking for their input. Of the 58 residents responding, 25 households or 43% wanted to increase the speed to 35 mph, and 12 households or 21% wanted to increase the speed to 40 mph. Of the 21 or 36% of responding residents who wanted to leave the speed limit at 30 mph, almost all had homes fronting on Orchid Hill.

The overwhelming personal attendance at the April 11th Council Meeting was by Residents who actually have homes fronting on Orchid Hill. With one exception, all Orchid Hill Residents asked that the speed limit of 30 mph NOT be increased. Almost all noted that motorists regularly drive 10 miles per hour or greater OVER the posted speed limit. And, they specifically asked for increased speed limit enforcement by our Town’s designated sheriff’s deputies.

One comment was that an increased speed limit of 40 mph only shortened the driving time for the 1.5 miles from Copper Canyon Road to FM 2499 by one minute – from 4 minutes to 3 minutes. However, if vehicle speed increased from 30 mph to 40 mph, stopping distance for an average automobile driver increased from 80 feet to 126 feet. Stopping distance for trucks increased from 100 feet to 164 feet.

Thanks to the following Copper Canyon residents who took the time to personally come to the Council Meeting and share their concerns with Council Members: Steve and Sally Butler, John Calkins, George Campbell, Tom Giovanetti, Robin Grider, Jack Patterson (also speaking for his neighbor Gary Nance), and Ken Seale.

The Council again had to balance the expressed wishes of the majority of Town residents with the concerns of those home owners most directly affected who lived on Orchid Hill. And, once again, the Council voted unanimously to leave the speed on Orchid Hill at 30 mph

Fannie Mae Cleaning Up foreclosed Home & Acreage at 648 Chinn Chapel

Fannie Mae has foreclosed on the home and 2.5096 acres at 648 Chinn Chapel Road and begun an extended cleanup process. The former owner had several months to remove his own personal property from this inherited real estate.

Fannie Mae estimates it will take several weeks for a clean-up crew to remove all the remaining items from the property, including those stacked in the right-of-way on the west side of Chinn Chapel Road. The clean-up process may take longer, as recent heavy rains have made the ground too soggy for trucks and heavy equipment to maneuver on the acreage. Our sincere appreciation to Constable Jerry Raburn, of Denton County Precinct Three, for assisting in the extended clean-up.

The 2.5096 acres, including the old home and a large shed formerly used for pottery making, is or will be listed for sale. (The concrete floored shed is approximately 12-14 feet wide by 50 to 60 feet long.) Because acreage is so valuable in Copper Canyon, a buyer may wish to demolish the current structures and build a new home and accessory building.

An additional 1.0 acre adjoining the above property has been foreclosed on by Federal National Mortgage. This one acre was owned by another relative, who also inherited the vacant land. At this time, it is not known if the total 3.5096 acres with home and pottery shed may be purchased together or the one acre fronting Chinn Chapel Road possibly purchased separately.

Town Council votes Unanimously to Nominate Jim Carter for Denco 911

Copper Canyon’s Town Council voted unanimously to again nominate our former County Commissioner Jim Carter for a second term on Denco 911’s Board of Managers. Carter has already been nominated by the municipalities of Lake Dallas, Northlake, Shady Shores, and The Colony. Jim Carter, former Mayor of Trophy Club and Denton County Commissioner, is currently serving as the President of Denton County Emergency Services District #1. ESD#1 provides fire and emergency medical services to 65 square miles in Denton County - including the cities of Argyle, Bartonville, Copper Canyon, Corral City, Northlake and other unincorporated areas of Denton County such as Canyon Oaks subdivision. Carter has often commented that every minute saved by a Denco 911 expedited response saves both property in a fire – and more importantly – lives in a medical emergency.

Master Gardener Pat Pape Hosts Garden Tour of her 4.5 acres Sat. May 7 th

When Pat Pape and her husband Mark Pape moved to Copper Canyon 9 years ago, there were only 2 trees on their 4.5 acre home site. But, Pat is a dedicated organic gardener. The Papes have planted over 50 trees, including oaks and other native trees. Their fruit trees include apples, apricots, peaches, plums, and ornamental pears (the latter tree Pat does NOT recommend!) At the entrance to their acreage are two reclaimed meadows. The grass on the lawns around their home is mowed, but neither watered nor fertilized.

The Papes have four tanks to store a maximum of 6,700 gallons of rainwater. The rainwater is used to water their extensive collection of annuals, perennials, and plants native to this area of Texas. Milkweed is planted to attract and sustain butterflies. Large rocks native to Copper Canyon and birdhouses add interest to the flower gardens. One flower garden features red, yellow, and orange blooms. A second flower garden is predominantly in hues of pink, purple and yellow.

The Garden Tour is Saturday May 7th from 9 am to 4 pm at 12050 Meadow Lake Lane. (For GPS inserts, the mailing address for the north and west side of Copper Canyon is the post office in Argyle, Texas 76226.) From FM 2499 in Highland Village, turn west on Orchid Hill Lane. Meadow Lake is the first street on the north side of Orchid Hill just east of the round-about at the Chinn Chapel intersection. Parking is along Orchid Hill.

Tickets can be bought at the Meadow Lake Lane gate on Orchid Hill Lane or online at the Denton County Master Gardeners Association website, www.dcmga.com. Tickets are $5 for one home garden tour or $10 for 5 private home garden tours and 3 public gardens. All 8 garden tours are in southern Denton County and a brief driving distance from Copper Canyon. The tour is the major annual fund raiser for Denton County Master Gardeners, who use the donations for educational purposes. .