Inside the Moon
Island Halloween A2
Port A Halloween A4
Dog-Gone Festival A9
SMA Halloween A11
The
Issue 603
Island Moon
The voice of The Island since 1996
November 5, 2015
Around The Island
Weekly
FREE
Photo by Kimberly McDonald
Dog-Gone Festival
By Dale Rankin Plans for the proposed SPID/Park Road 22 Water Exchange Bridge are “moving forward, Corpus Christi Assistant City Manager Wes Pierson told the Island Strategic Action Committee Tuesday night. Pierson said design plans are 90% complete and the issue of how to fund the bridge, estimated to cost about $10 million, will go before the Corpus Christi City Council in executive session at their November 10th meeting.
“The Island is under attack! We think Flour Bluff may have invaded! There’s shooting all along the Laguna, right out my back door! “I knew this would happen, I knew it! It’s the Trilateral Commission coming after our guns – I knew this day would come! To the ramparts! Come and take it! My cold dead fingers…!”
There were attempts by the 99.9% of the duck hunters who respected people’s property rights to talk some sense into the few rogue hunters but with little or no success. Things finally came to a head in 2012 when conditions were especially dry and the marshes along the King Ranch shoreline where the ducks could normally find fresh water dried up leaving a prime waterhole, a freshwater lake, over near the Aquarius Extension which was still a work in progress, as one of two hangouts for thirsty Island ducks and the hunters alike. Residents raised more Cain since he was killed by Abel and doing something about it became the city’s course of least resistance. Things got serious when a claim was made that a city ordinance prohibited discharge of a firearm inside the city limits, which includes the waters of the Laguna, and everyone ran to the City Code. The city legal staff hemmed and hawed as they had for years claiming a lack of jurisdiction based on a flimsy legal reading of the City Code which the city’s legal eagles read to say the 1000-foot ordinance only applied to areas annexed before a pertinent state law was enacted in 1981. The law clearly didn’t say that plus it was pointed out to the City Attorney at the time that the maps on city’s website clearly showed the area along the back side of The Island where the hunting was being done was annexed in 1980. Things got to the point where the City Attorney finally threw down the lamest of lame lawyer cards, “Well, I’m an attorney and you’re not.” When you hear a lawyer say that you know he’s full of dicta. Lo and behold when he re-read the statute it said something completely different than the first time and walla – the 1000-foot rule was on the books officially. Truth be told part of the problem was that the city at the time didn’t have a boat to go out and fine the shooters, and the Game Wardens lacked the
Around continued on A3
Plans for Water Exchange Bridge “Moving Forward” No Funding Yet in Place
The calls began early Sunday morning.
The uneasiness between duck hunters and homeowners along the Laguna side of The Island has subsided in the past few years as Corpus Christi Police stepped in to enforce the ordinance which forbids the discharge of a firearm within 1000 feet of a home – actually any permanent structure. When the Island Strategic Action Committee was first formed six years ago one of the first hot potatoes that landed in the committee’s lap was complaints from mostly newly arrived homeowners who were startled to awaken and find hunters blasting away a few feet behind their property line, and in some cases dropping stray shot into their swimming pools – now there’s an Island Problem if ever there was one.
Halloween House A16
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By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com
Settle down everybody it’s just Duck Season and we awoke to the cacophony of the Shotgun Symphony along the back side of The Island (in F Flat as best we could tell) Sunday morning and it continued off and on through the day as it will until the season in the South Zone closes November 30, then will ignite anew from December 13 through January 25.
Island Artwalk A15
More photos on A9
La Posada Golf Tournament Added By Brent Rourk La Posada events are around the corner, ushering in Christmas and many Holiday festivities on the Island. As Islanders prepare their schedules they are encouraged to view the line-up of La Posada events planned by the La Posada Foundation. La Posada Foundation members are excited about this year’s events and about raising funds and toys for Toys for Tots. As they state, “It is all about the kids!” Added to the La Posada line-up is a golf tournament at Schlitterbahn this year in order to help raise funds and toys for Toys for Tots. The golf tournament will be a fun 18 tournament held on December 5th beginning at 9:00 AM. Golfers and duffers alike need to bring a toy in addition to their round fee of $45 plus tax.. Included in the fee are the golf, a cart, prizes, range balls, and a fried chicken buffet. Dust off the clubs and sign up at the pro shop or call 361949-8006. A current application is on page A5 for those Islanders wishing to enter the La Posada Lighted Boat Parades on December 11th and 12th. Owners of boats from 14 to 60 feet long are encouraged to decorate their boats in fine fashion and enter the parade. Boats are judged on Most Traditional,
needs several more additional toy collector boats. This is also marvelous Christmas Spirit experience, collecting toys during the parades for less fortunate children. Please contact Nick Colosi to join the Collector Boat Team at 618-889-9160. This year the La Posada foundation will not enter jeeps and golf carts in the LAND parade with the fire department, though it might consider some type of jeep and cart parade next year.
La Posada Registration Form & Map Inside Page A5
La Posada Events for 2015 Dec. 1 La Posada Kick-off Party at Scuttlebutt’s Dec. 5 La Posada Foundation Golf Tournament – Schlitterbahn – Shotgun start 9:00 AM Dec. 5 Port Royal Christmas Tree Lighting Party – 6:00 PM at Port Royal Resort Dec. 9 Collector Boat Meeting – 7:00 PM Padre Island Yacht Club Dec. 10 Parade Boat Meeting – 7:00 PM Padre Island Yacht Club Dec. 11 La Posada Lighted Boat Parade – 6:00 PM North Side
Some members of the La Posada Committee show their colors It is all about the kids Photo by Brent Rourk Most Patriotic, Most Spirit, and Most Joyful. Coveted first and second place hand-made tumblers are awarded in each category. All sizes of boats are eligible for the coveted custom made tumbler awards, so do not let your 14 or 16 foot boat size deter you from entering. What a terrific way for families, neighbors and friends to spend La Posada – on your own decorated boat parading around the canals. Those who continue to join the parades state that it is an amazing experience. The La Posada Foundation is reminding Islanders that applications for the La Posada Lighted Boat Parades are available at Padre Island Mail Plus, Ace Hardware, and CVS in addition to on-line at www.piyc. org . As part of the colorful and creative parades, collector boats with a United States Marine on board pull up to decks and docks to collect toys. The Marines are very excited about helping collect toys again. La Posada
Dec. 12 La Posada Lighted Boat Parade – 7:00 PM South Side Dec. 13 La Posada Brunch – presentation of toys and check to the Marines – 8:00 AM (open to PIYC members, Marines, and Parade Boat families).
Pierson said the city council last year placed the funding of the bridge at the top of a list of projects to be funded with bond money left over from voter approved bonds issued in 2012 but would not say how much money is available.
waterway would connect the existing Island canal system to Lake Padre, Packery Channel, and the Gulf of Mexico cutting the travel distance by boat from the main canal to the Gulf from 6.2 miles to 3 miles. Developer Paul Schexnailder who is the managing partner for the companies which own the land on both sides of the roadway told ISAC members that his Army Corps of Engineers permit, which was finalized last week, requires him to dig the canals leading to the roadway from each side “within the next twelve months.” “We will have the canals dug before the bridge is built,” Schexnailder said. “I am required by my permit to bring navigable waterways to each side of the roadway. That requirement is already in place.”
“It is time to have a discussion with the developer,” he said, and when questioned about the available bond The final step in the regulatory money said, “I won’t talk about the process is to present the finalized bonds.” Roadway 14 ft. Pedestrian / Cart path
30 ft.
Pedestrian / Cart path
30 ft.
42 ft. Water Depth 8 ft.
Those discussions would likely concern any requirements the city council might put in place as a condition for funding the project. Council members Lillian Riojas and Chad Magill were in attendance at the ISAC meeting, along with Precinct 4 Nueces County Commissioner Brent Chesney. One possible funding source for any additional money needed for the project is the Island Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone which captures property tax on new construction inside the zone after its establishment in 2003. The zone covers the areas surrounding Packery Channel, around Lake Padre, west of SPID which includes the Schlitterbahn waterpark, and SPID between Whitecap and Commodores where the bridge would be located. There is currently not enough money in the fund to cover the cost of the project and if that funding source is used, bonds would likely be required. The TIRZ board, which includes both city and county officials, would have to approve use of the TIRZ money for the project. Current design plans call for the bridge to consist of three prefabricated concrete spans which would cover three passageways; the center waterway which would allow 14 feet of clearance from the waterline to the bottom of the bridge, and two 30-foot cart/pedestrian paths on either side of the channel. The
design plans to the Texas Department of Transportation for an Environmental Assessment which will require a public hearing and comment period. TxDot spokesman Ricky Dailey who was at the meeting said the forty-five day comment period could begin in the next few weeks with a final decision as early as February, however, he said those dates have not yet been determined and could be altered depending on the outcome of the comment process. City staff said current projections call for construction on the bridge to begin in April, 2016, contingent on funding, but could be delayed by a city council decision to delay construction to avoid traffic congestion on the busy roadway during the peak summer season since traffic would be reduced to one lane in each direction during construction. City engineers said once the canals on each side are complete, the canal on the west side is already in place, the bridge would be built and then the channel under it would be cut through. ISAC members voted unanimously Tuesday to support and move forward with the project. The committee is an advisory body to the Corpus Christi City Council which will have final approval of all aspects of the project. “This bridge is stifling development out here,” ISAC member Carter Tate told the city staff.
Bridge continued on A5
A little Island history
Opening of Corpus Christi Pass Plan from 1967
Editor’s note: Packery Channel has been in the news in the past few weeks as the high tides and rainfall combined with north winds to clean the sand out of the channel and restore it to its designed depth. The Corpus Christi City Council also approved a $380,000 contract to monitor the channel, the beach surrounding it, and the water in the main Island canal in anticipation of the opening of the channel under the proposed Water Exchange Bridge under Park Road 22. So in that vein here is a history of attempts to open a water pass through The Island going back to 1967. When the dredging of Packery Channel was approved in 2000 it was the culmination of years of attempts to make a permanent water pass through The Island. In 1967, the same year Hurricane Beulah cut The Island into more than a dozen pieces and
View west of Corpus Christi Pass a few days after Hurricane Allen in August 1980. History continued on A16