Argyle High School continues to take shape as the campus adds more pieces to its ultimate plan.
Flower Mound Town Council approved a few requests to the Argyle High School campus at its Sept. 21 meeting that will add a bus parking lot and a baseball and softball complex.
The additions will be placed around the already-developed site of Argyle High School, located in the Canyon Falls residential community of Flower Mound.
Argyle ISD’s proposed bus parking was approved with an exception to the town’s code for its compatibility buffer and the proposed baseball and softball complex, which includes a field house, was approved with exceptions to the town’s code regarding roof pitch.
Council approved the plans, but expressed concerns about the noise levels current and future residential properties might have to deal with.
“We’re going to have new residential come in just south of this, and I want to make sure we’re all being good neighbors to our residents that aren’t here, yet,” said member Brian Taylor. “I believe this will be constructed before those homes will be constructed and I want to make sure we head off any future residential concerns.”
According to Kevin Vo of McAdams Engineering, representing Argyle ISD alongside the district’s construction manager Jeff Kohen, a six-foot masonry wall will be built around the bus parking lot with fast-growing, evergreen shrubs intended to mitigate any noise.
Over the next few years, Vo said the shrubs are expected to grow from five feet to about 13 feet, which will help screen the lot and mitigate some noise from future homes.
According to Kohen, the district’s busses would be stored overnight at the lot and would go out on routes in the morning and the afternoon every school day.
Even with mitigation plans, council member Chris Drew still cited concerns about busses leaving as early as 6 a.m. daily and returning as late as midnight from football games when homes are built.
“This is a bus depot within 60 feet of residential lots,” he said. “It seems like a very incompatible use next to residential.”
According to Kohen, the district began planning the spot when the nearby lots were zoned commercial or industrial, not residential. The town said the zoning was changed about four years ago.
“There are not a lot of other options on this site, and we’re building it out rather rapidly right now,” he said.
According to Mayor Pro Tem Adam Schiestel, the residents he has heard from don’t necessarily want the bus storage denied, but they want it done well. Kohen said the district would be committed to working with the residential communities to the south in the future if issues arose.
The request was approved by a vote of 4-1 with Drew being the only nay.
Despite some similar concerns, the Argyle High School baseball and softball complex was unanimously approved by council at the Sept. 21 meeting.
The complex includes a baseball field and softball field with press boxes, a field house and batting cages.
Argyle ISD requested a waiver to the town’s code of ordinances in regard to the roof pitch of the press boxes and field house. Planning and Zoning recommended approval of the roof pitch and a height increase of about two feet at its Sept. 14 meeting.
The town said the requested roof pitch is similar to the roof pitches throughout the rest of the Argyle High School campus.
However, the roof pitch wasn’t the concern for council. It was about noise.
Kohen outlined the district’s plans to mitigate noise from escaping the baseball and softball complexes with speakers located in the outfield scoreboard that would face inward toward the stands, rather than behind the stands and projecting noise beyond the stadium.
Council brought up some concerns they have heard from residents about Argyle High School’s new football stadium and hoped they could set some guidelines for the baseball and softball complex before it’s built.
According to Flower Mound Town Manager James Childers, the town’s ability to regulate the use of noise and lights during a sporting event are limited, but they can work with the district to see what can be done to mitigate excessive noise limits.
When council got back on track with the roof pitch, there were no obligations, other than council member Clare Harris requesting Argyle ISD see what they can do before asking council to approve another ordinance waiver.
Argyle ISD will be hosting community listening sessions over the next few months where parents, staff and community members can discuss concerns or get information from the district’s board of trustees.
