Inside the Moon
Spring Break '16 A2 Issue 663
The
Island Moon The voice of The Island since 1996
December 29, 2016
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin As we wind down to the end of 2016 on our little sandbar we are hunkered down for the last blue northern of the year to blow through as the Weather Wonks tell us to expect winds of 45 knots and offshore seas of nine to eleven feet.
Live Music A18
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2016 The Year That Was As we look back on 2016 here are some of the highlights that we saw on our Island.
Lake Padre Work
Here is some of what has happened hereabouts in the past week.
New beach signs New signs are going up along our beaches this week. The first of the new signs was at the parking lot at Michael J. Ellis Beach.
The idea from the City’s Parks and Recreation Department, the City’s Watershore and Beach Advisory Committee and the Corpus Christi Convention and Visitors Bureau is to standardize the signs along the beaches in the Corpus Christi City Limits. The new signs should all be in place within the next few weeks.
Water problem Some additional details are coming to light about the recent problems with our water supply. For the third time in the past year a ban was placed on the use of water on North Padre and Mustang islands, the ban did not affect Port Aransas. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality reported to the city that a malfunctioning backflow valve at the port allowed gallons of Indoline and Hydrochloric Acid to flow into the city’s water system meaning that even boiling the water would not remove it. The problem arose only three days after the new Corpus Christi City Council took their seats but the new arrivals didn’t hesitate when trouble found them. We’re told that by the afternoon after the problem was initially reported a conference call was arranged by State Representative Todd Hunter including officials from Washington to Austin to City Hall to find answers to exactly what a happened and what was to be done about it. After some backing and filling by the city staff they were told by State Representative Hunter who organized the meeting to come up with solutions…in three hours. That’s the speed of light in bureaucratic circles. It turns out that the chemicals released amounted to concentrated soap that in the long run won’t do any permanent harm, and in fact could even help to clean out our aging water lines. What the problem brought to light is that there are 102 compounds separated from our water system by backflow preventers around the city but there is no definitive list of exactly where they are, how often they are checked, and what the protocol is when the fail. In hindsight we are probably lucky that things didn’t turn our worse than they did and now we have a chance to fix the problem before it happens again.
Beach Access Road 3A
Around continued on A4
The biggest project that kicked off this year was the excavation work around Lake Padre that will change the Island landscape literally and figuratively. As 2016 winds down the work initial phase of the work, the ground work, at the 104-acre site is nearing completion. More than 9000 linear feet of bulkheads are in place with less than 1000 feet yet be installed, the marina site adjacent to the planned SPID Water Exchange Bridge has been excavated and work has begun on the marina itself. The actual shape of the lake has been changed and expanded with the sand removed from the site used to raise the surrounding elevation to eight feet above sea level. When fully developed the project will include hotels, apartments,
several marinas, and retail space surrounding a 3200-foot long canal feature which will connect the Lake Padre development with the area around the Schlitterbahn waterpark and allow water flow from the Gulf of Mexico directly into the existing Island canal system through a 40-foot wide channel. As the year ends the Corpus Christi City Council plans to bid the bridge project – now estimated to cost about $11.5 million – with bids expected to be open by the end of January ready for a start by mid2017. But before work begins on the bridge an agreement must be in place to complete the connection to the existing Island canal system on the Schlitterbahn side of SPID where the existing canal – not yet bulkheaded –
A History of Zahn Road
The recently revived interest in the Tortuga Dunes development jogged my memory regarding an article that I was supposed to write a couple years ago but never got around to it. During the construction of the subdivision, I did a lot of research on the immediate area as I wrote both the USACE and dune protection permit applications. I learned about the early history of Zahn Road, although there are a few curiosities involved with it. Beach access roads are the lifeblood of tourism around here, and we’re going to re-build one and hopefully get another one on Mustang Island soon.
No connection to the beach In September of 1978, an application was submitted by Dr. George Strickhausen III to the USACE that proposed to dredge about a four acre area in the wetlands north of where Zahn road is currently located, and build a half-horseshoe road and fill areas for development around it. The original road was to stop before the 1000’ dune protection line and not connect with the beach. This application, of course, was met with resistance from various agencies and stakeholders in the public that commented that the project would impact too many wetlands and sensitive habitats. The League of Women Voters even turned in a comment letter. I agree with their early assessments. Comments went back and forth
Nueces County Emergency Services District #2 $6919 cost per call for 2015, $8470 per call estimated for 2016
The Nueces County Emergency Services District #2 (Originally called the Flour Bluff Volunteer Fire Department) is located at 337 Yorktown Road in Flour Bluff. They provide fire, water and auto rescue and EMS services to an 80 square-mile area which includes Flour Bluff, Padre Island, Padre Island National Seashore, and unincorporated areas of Kleberg and Nueces County. The department was the Flour Bluff Volunteer Fire Department until the City of Corpus Christi annexed the area in the 1960s when it became the Nueces County Emergency Services District and it now funded primarily by property tax revenue levied on property owners in Flour Bluff and on Padre and Mustang islands. The board meetings are normally scheduled at 6 p.m. on the last Tuesday of each month at the fire station at 337 Yorktown Road and are open to the public. According to their website the company’s equipment consists of an engine, a pickup, a rescue boat, a tanker brush truck, a large brush truck engine, a brush truck, and an EMS unit. $961,845 in total operating expenses for 2015 (up from $761,849 in 2014) $6919 cost per service call for 2015 31 service calls on Padre Island in 2016 68 service calls in Flour Bluff in 2016 139 total number of service calls in service area in 2016
$1.2 million Net Assets of according to a 2015 audit $837,335 raised from property tax in 2015
2016-2017 Proposed Budget $1,177,330 total income $8470 per service call in 20162017 based on number of calls in current fiscal year $930,000 income from property tax revenue $687,713 Wages $247,330 net income from ambulance services $50,860 Accounting and Professional fees expense $6,036 Administrative expense $7,016 Advertising and Promotion expense $14,545 Communication software $11,440 Building Maintenance expense $49,800 Equipment Maintenance expense $34,000 Fuel expense $104,300 Insurance expense $17,064 Interest $28,970 Training and Dues $15,170 Utilities $1,030,544 total Operational expense $146,786 left over after operational expenses
2016 Cont. on A2
A little Island history By Jay Gardner
Island by the numbers
for another year, with lawyers from Austin getting involved, local environmental consultants, the Sierra Club, and Audubon Club. In July of 1979, the applicant submitted a revised plan that reduced major impacts and did not include dredging large ponds and filling acres and acres of wetlands. The road was to be moved south of the wetland ponds, and was to go straight towards the beach, and then take a left before the 1000’ dune protection line and dead end out in the back dunes. The road was still not designed to go all the way to the beach. Of course, comment letters again were received that there was too much impact to filling wetlands. There was a quick revision, likely due to the involvement of Charlie Belaire and Paul Carangelo, who proposed an intertidal back lake be dug out and connected with the tidal waters that go under the bridge there at the current 1852 Pass bridge at State Highway 361. The dredge material was to be used as fill for Zahn Road, and also there at the corner of Zahn and 361 where the sales office for Tortuga Dunes sits today. Comment letters were again received, with many still objecting to the plan, however it was actually approved in September 1979 despite objections.
Subterranean well pad Nothing would happen with the permit (or construction) for two years, until a letter appears in the
Zahn cont. on A4
What a Difference 100 Years Doesn’t Make Editor’s note: As we swing into the New Year it is tempting to believe that the times we live in are the most turbulent ever in South Texas. They are not. One hundred years ago the Island we call home and the Wild Horse Prairie to our west and south were aflame in tension seeping north across the border. The story that follows is taken from several sources including the book “The Texas Rangers and the Mexican Revolution” by Charles H. Harris and Louis R. Sadler.
The Mexican Revolution kicked off in 1910 and by 1912 was in full bloom and spilling north across the border.
Porfirio Diaz figured himself a benevolent dictator and figured he would “control” the presidential election of 1910 the way he had controlled the previous six. When it comes to fixing elections the Mexican way is not a subtle one. As soon as
By Dale Rankin Early in the second decade of a new century unrest along the Texas/ Mexico border made crossing the river dangerous to the point of impossible. Meanwhile, north of us in the heart of Texas an oil boom is creating boomtowns overnight. Roving crossborder gangs frequently bring their attacks to bordertowns and to the open ranchland of South Texas. Meanwhile the oil boom is bringing people and jobs to the state.
Déjà vu all over again It may sound like 2016 but looking back one hundred years in South Texas life finds us pretty much where our grandfathers were a century ago.
Rangers 1915
Francisco I. Madero declared his candidacy Diaz promptly had him thrown in jail – election over; or so Diaz thought. What he didn’t count on was Madero’s escaping from jail and running to San Antonio where he promptly issued his Plan de San Luis Potosí, with its main slogan Sufragio Efectivo, No re-elección (“free suffrage and no re-election”).
Difference cont. on A4