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Council allows Samaritan’s Purse office expansion and permits removal of large ash tree; tree mitigation fees assessed
Summary
Council approved a plan‑development revision to add a three‑story professional office and additional parking for Samaritan’s Purse, granted removal of one large ash tree, and directed that tree‑mitigation fees be assessed rather than waived after staff presented alternatives that would have eliminated a substantial share of required parking.
The Coppell City Council on April 14 approved a plan‑development revision to allow a three‑story office expansion and additional southern parking for the Samaritan’s Purse site, subject to Planning & Zoning conditions and engineering review, and decided the developer will be required to pay tree‑mitigation fees rather than having them waived.
Staff presented the project as an expansion of an existing office/warehouse campus and said the revised plan removes certain trees to construct new parking and to accommodate a new three‑story office building that will house a breakroom, training space and IT staff. The tree survey flagged a single large ash (40.3‑inch diameter) near the proposed new parking. Staff said the ash was in fair‑to‑good but declining condition and that saving the tree in place would reduce available parking significantly (staff and applicant estimated the alternate layout would remove roughly 22% of planned parking, about 39 spaces).
Developer Greg Yansy told Council an alternate plan that preserved the ash would reduce parking and view and that the tree exhibits signs of decline and structural limb failures. The developer and staff said tree mitigation fees for the removed trees could range roughly between $110,000 and $134,000.
Council debated whether to waive mitigation fees and whether to allow the ash removal. An amendment to the motion — approved by the Council — directed that the mitigation fees be assessed (not waived) and that the large ash tree removal be permitted. Planning & Zoning’s recommended conditions (engineering review, plat/ROW requirements, signage compliance and downstream drainage analysis) were carried forward.
Staff will require the payment of any applicable mitigation fees prior to plat recordation if the fee is not waived by Council. The applicant will proceed with standard engineering and permitting steps under the approved plan‑development conditions.
The decision balances the city’s tree‑preservation guidelines against the developer’s parking and site constraints; Council required mitigation fees be paid as the chosen trade‑off while granting the developer the option to remove the ash tree to preserve the parking layout.
