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Corpus Christi Beach Ban Voted Down
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CORPUS CHRISTI BEACH BAN VOTED DOWN
Voters on Tuesday turned down, by a 55 percent to 45 percent vote, a vehicle ban on the 7,200 feet of beach stretching from the Packery Channel south jetty to the northern boundary of Padre Balli Park.
Voters also overwhelmingly approved a measure to allow residents to vote on all future beach vehicle-ban proposals. If the city wants to ban vehicles on any stretch of beach, an election would be automatic.
Developers insisted on the ban as a condition for their proposed $1.5 billion resort community. Mayor Henry Garrett said he hopes to negotiate a compromise with development company Intrawest, although he had not talked with developers Wednesday. The city would put all options on the table, Garrett said, including using wooden posts to separate pedestrians and vehicles, a choice the developers previously rejected but that is used on developed areas of nearby Mustang Island.
Ref: Corpus Christi-Caller Times |
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By
Kenya @
Friday, December 22, 2006 10:12 PM |
Corpus Christi finds itself in a familiar situation these days: waiting.
Last month residents voted against closing to auto traffic a portion of the beach near the Packery Channel boat pass, effectively scuttling plans for a large resort planned for Padre Island.
Now no one knows what the area's biggest private landowner will do.
Paul Schexnailder, who owns more than 1,000 acres on Padre Island, including about 200 acres immediately adjacent to the channel, has remained mum on his plans since the vote.
"This is the million-dollar question," said John Trice, a surfer and Frost Bank executive who favored creating the pedestrians-only beach that Schexnailder envisioned.
Packery Channel provides quick boat access between the Laguna Madre and the Gulf of Mexico. Before it was opened, it took Corpus Christi boaters an hour to reach Port Aransas and its ship channel to the north.
Schexnailder had planned to bring in resort developer Intrawest and said development costs for the land near Packery would top $1 billion.
But Schexnailder and Intrawest's vision did not include pickups and cars parked in the sand between a luxury hotel and the Gulf of Mexico. Immediately following the decision to keep cars on the beach, Intrawest pulled out.
The new concern for Corpus Christi officials is that Schexnailder will sell off his property in parcels, because other resort developers might be difficult to lure.
"His land is worth more in small pieces than it is in a big tract," Trice said. "This guy will make more money if he breaks his holdings up."
City Manager George "Skip" Noe said the city has offered to meet with Schexnailder regarding options for the property. But Noe doesn't expect that to happen until after the first of the year.
"The nature of the project is going to be something different," Noe said.
At Schexnailder's request, the City Council this year had agreed to close 7,200 feet of beach to traffic. But many residents chafed at the idea, and they gathered enough petition signatures to force an election.
The Beach Access Coalition, a new citizen's group, fought the city and Schexnailder's efforts with this message: "Don't let them steal our beach."
"It got at one of the fundamentals of the community, which is 'I drive on the beach, I drink beer, I do doughnuts in the sand,'" Trice said. "I grew up here and I knew it was gong to be a difficult struggle. When you talk about the complexity of the issue and the benefits to the community long term, there's no sound bite that sums that up."
But Frank Floyd, owner of Wind and Wave Water Sports, called it a moral and ethical issue to make beach access as easy as possible for those who can't afford to stay in a pricey resort.
"Texas is supposed to have an Open Beaches Act," Floyd said. "It was going to be too much hassle to get there."
The Packery dredging was paid for with federal and local tax dollars.
The vehicle ban would have placed the closest public parking about 1,500 feet from the south jetty, considered a prime fishing and longboard surfing spot.
Real estate agent Gene Guernsey said supporters of the resort development assumed that creating a pedestrian beach was a no-brainer.
"The business community is shocked that it didn't go through," he said. "What you're going to see is nothing happening for at least a few years."
A few years is a short time in the long history of Packery Channel, which silted shut in 1923 and was reopened recently by the Army Corps of Engineers to the tune of $30 million.
Over the years, other developers have come and gone, hoping to dredge the channel and turn the property into a destination. Schexnailder has held the land for about 12 years.
City officials latched onto his ideas and created an island overlay district with more stringent zoning.
"The entire master plan for the island was done with the idea that we would have a world-class resort," Noe said.
Coalition members don't oppose such development, but worry that if one portion of the beach becomes pedestrian-only, it would set a precedent. Beach driving is something of a tradition in Corpus Christi, where it's possible to travel miles on the sand.
"As far as developers go, it's a prime spot," Floyd said. "Someone will come up with another plan."
Coalition member Hal Suter said the group will stay organized at least through the city election in May, but is likely to be around for much longer.
"Once the people decided to go and open Packery Channel, people like myself figured this was the opening salvo," Suter said. "You just don't go through the trouble to dredge Packery just for fishermen."
Although environmentalism and restoring sand to an eroding beach were cited in the channel dredging, local officials made no bones about economic development being their prime motivation.
Hal's mother, Pat Suter, the chairwoman of the local Sierra Club, hopes a state lawmaker will sponsor a bill requiring a statewide vote for any future beach restrictions.
In Corpus Christi, 55 percent cast ballots against closing the beach to car traffic; 71 percent voted to require that future beach bans win local voter approval.
But supporters of the resort and Beach Access Coalition members agree it's hard to know what to do for now.
"We're all kind of hinged on what Paul does, and he ain't talking," Trice said. "This is private land. Nobody controls it but him."
Jennifer Hiller Express-News Business Writer
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By
Kenya @
Tuesday, January 16, 2007 10:43 PM |
A $500 million Padre Island resort deal that the landowner said would die without a pedestrian-only beach appears dead.
Gulfshores Joint Venture announced Friday its negotiations with resort builder Intrawest have terminated and a letter of intent will expire Wednesday. Intrawest had been signed on to build the $500 million first phase of developer Paul Schexnailder's proposed $1.5 billion resort community.
City voters Tuesday turned down a vehicle ban sought by Schexnailder for 7,200 feet of beach south of Packery Channel.
In a prepared statement, Gulfshores said the letter of intent would be terminated because an inability to meet specific requirements of that agreement. The statement did not specify the unmet requirements. Kyle Garrison, an associate of Schexnailder in Gulfshores, confirmed the statement but would not comment further. Schexnailder declined to comment.
Intrawest, a Vancouver-based international resort development firm, signed a letter of intent Nov. 30, 2005, to build the resort on Padre Island.
Gulfshores will seek meetings with the city of Corpus Christi, Packery Channel TIF District and Island Action Committee, "to discuss future opportunities and the commitment of all parties to various planning and zoning initiatives," the Gulfshores statement said.
Packery Channel was a silted-in pass until it was dredged to provide convenient access for pleasure boats to the Gulf of Mexico. The channel project, championed by Schexnailder, has been described as a key to encouraging significant development on Padre Island.
Schexnailder has said he envisioned a planned resort community rather than piecemeal projects, but that he would parcel the land out for sale if he were thwarted from developing his vision. That vision, he has said, would require the vehicle ban.
"Gulfshores and Intrawest would like to thank the Mayor, Council and staff for their support in the effort to achieve the requirements of the LOI (letter of intent)," the statement said. "Gulfshores is especially grateful to all the 'It's About Time' participants for running an informative and honest campaign." It's About Time Corpus Christi was a group that campaigned for the vehicle ban.
Mayor Henry Garrett, a proponent of the vehicle-free beach and the proposed development, said he spoke with an Intrawest official Friday who told him vehicles on the beach did not fit in the company's plan and that Intrawest would pull out of the agreement.
"I asked if there was anything to do to change his mind and he said no," Garrett said. "He said he felt like the area was valuable, but the plan they had was to have a pedestrian-only beach."
Garrett said Intrawest might reconsider if an opportunity arises to develop in front of a vehicle-free beach.
"I am disappointed. I think we had an opportunity to create a development that would bring jobs over a long period of time, a destination that people would enjoy coming to," Garrett said. "I thought all along that it would be a good thing for the community and a tremendous boost for the economy. The voters have spoken and they are loud and clear on what they wanted."
Mike McCutchon, a spokesman for the Beach Access Coalition, which petitioned successfully for the referendum that turned down the vehicle ban, said the group had no comment on the Gulfshores announcement. Previously McCutchon said he was not opposed to the development and that development could occur with or without a vehicle ban.
"Our only comment today is no comment," McCutchon said.
Calls to Intrawest officials were not returned Friday evening.
Ref: Corpus Christi Caller-Times |
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