Page 290 - BWA FEB 2013

290 | Business World Magazine | February 2013
CleanCoppell (the city-wide cleanup day) to
Coppell Earthfest, initiatives branched out
to partnerships with the Coppell Chamber
of Commerce and the Coppell Independent
School District where additional programs
were established.
Working with Coppell schools, an en-
vironmental team was established which led
to the teaching of new curriculum. Other
initiatives involved creation of the Coppell
Farmers Market and the very popular Cop-
pell community gardens. Established in
1998, Vanhoozier says she has tracked the
development of some 120 community gar-
dens throughout the United States which
have all been modeled after the one created
by Coppell.
In fact, the extent of programs, events,
policies implemented throughout Cop-
pell are too numerous to list. The focus on
eco-friendly and sustainable penetrates into
every practice of the City, including the ne-
gotiation of contracts with vendors. As Van-
hoozier says, “We are so far into this, it’s a
way of life now… we have filters, this is the
way we think, this is the way we operate.”
A good example of that includes the
designing and building of The City of Cop-
pell’s Senior Recreation and Community
Center at Grapevine Springs. Relying on
the design and planning expertise of a firm
known as Pro Forma Architecture, The
Center earned distinction as a LEED Sil-
ver Certified construction. With its rustic
complement of stone and wood, Pro Forma’s
Jeff Bulla III, AIA, says the Center not only
Tours of the Community Garden were
conducted prior to the dinner.