Flower Mound Town Council voted Sept. 21 to let Argyle Independent School District (ISD) build a bus parking lot and a ball complex on the Argyle High School campus in Canyon Falls.
The bus lot passed 4-1, with Council Member Chris Drew casting the lone dissent. The baseball and softball complex passed unanimously, as first reported by the Cross Timbers Gazette.
Both projects required exceptions to the town's code. The bus lot needed a compatibility buffer waiver, and the ball complex needed a roof pitch waiver for its press boxes and field house. The approvals close out a process that deadlocked the town's Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission at its Sept. 14 meeting.
Bus lot draws dissent
The bus lot will sit within 60 feet of future residential lots south of the campus. Argyle ISD construction manager Jeff Koehn said the district began planning the lot when nearby parcels were zoned commercial or industrial. Town staff said that zoning changed about four years ago.
Kevin Vo of McAdams Engineering told council a six-foot masonry wall will surround the lot. Fast-growing evergreen shrubs will rise from five feet to about 13 feet over the next few years to screen the site and reduce noise.
Koehn said buses would be stored overnight and run morning and afternoon routes every school day.
Drew raised concerns about buses leaving as early as 6 a.m. and returning as late as midnight after football games once homes are built nearby.
"This is a bus depot within 60 feet of residential lots," Drew said. "It seems like a very incompatible use next to residential."
Koehn said the district has limited options on the site. Mayor Pro Tem Adam Schiestel said the residents he has heard from do not want the bus storage denied but want it done well. Koehn said the district would work with residential communities to the south if issues arise.
Council Member Brian Taylor said he wants the district to be good neighbors to future residents and head off concerns before homes go up.
Ball complex passes unanimously
The baseball and softball complex includes a baseball field seating 750 and a softball field seating 536. It also includes press boxes, a field house and batting cages. The new fields will replace and reorient existing fields on the campus.
The P&Z Commission had split 3-3 on the complex's height and roof pitch requests at its Sept. 14 meeting. Chair Gregory Schultz cast the tiebreaking vote to approve, saying a reasonable effort was made to mitigate sound and light pollution but acknowledging some "bleed over" is inevitable with a large sports venue.
Noise remained the bigger concern at the council level. Koehn outlined plans to place speakers on the outfield scoreboard facing inward toward the stands, rather than behind the stands projecting sound outward.
Town Manager James Childers said the town's ability to regulate noise and lights during sporting events is limited. He said officials can work with the district to address excessive noise.
Council Member Clare Harris asked Argyle ISD to exhaust its own options before requesting another ordinance waiver from the town.
Argyle ISD is hosting community listening sessions over the coming months. The first is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 1, at Jane Ruestmann Elementary School in Northlake at 5 p.m. Additional sessions are set for Nov. 10 at Argyle Middle School, Feb. 17, 2027, at Gibson Middle School and March 31, 2027, at Hilltop Elementary.
