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Schlitterbahn Nears Completion
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Happy Mother's Day
The Island Moon The voice of The Island since 1996
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com If you go to the beach these days you’re going to See Weed. The high number of spring cool fronts, and the north wind they bring, kept the ubiquitous Sargassum sea weed in warm coastal waters which bought on a bumper crop of the stuff which is now arriving on area beaches, and in fact beaches all along the Texas Coast.
Park Board Announces Balli Overhaul
Property owners have until May 31 to appeal their property values and will have the chance to do so without leaving The Island. Appraisal district officials will come to The Island starting at 9 a.m. on May 31 at seashore Learning Center where property owners can meet with the district and appeal their appraised value. Appeals filed by that date can continue past the deadline.
Runoff Election Next week is the last chance for voters to register to vote for the May 27 runoff elections. Early voting begins on Monday May 19. Vote early and vote often…in the meantime say hello if you see us Around The Island.
Update on Island Projects
Schlitterbahn, Beach Driving, Marina
By Dale Rankin Schlitterbahn Beachwalk Village. Developer Paul Schexnailder told the Island Strategic Action Committee (ISAC) on Tuesday that the first floor restaurant at the Schlitterbahn waterpark will be ready for the park’s soft opening on Saturday, May 31, along with the swim-up bar and “possibly the upper end of the riverwalk.” He also said six restaurants will be open by summer 2015 and that the number of hotel rooms located directly adjacent to the main building at the site has increased from 30 to 80. He also said he expects to have the permit to build a marina on the east side of SPID, on Lake Padre, in hand in about forty-five days and that design for the Beach Walk Village, which includes the canal system to link Lake Padre with the existing canals on the west side of SPID, is about “halfway there.” He said when the park is complete there will be the 600 parking spaces currently being built at the corner of Compass and Commodores, plus another 200 paved spaces to be added later, and
Projects continued on A3
Year 17, Issue 525
Inside the Moon...
Fish Stories A4
From the looks of the offshore weed supply it appears like we will be dealing with it through most of May. Can’t someone figure out a way to market this stuff? Ronnie Canales, the Assistant Chief Appraiser at the Nueces County Appraisal District said this week that based on early assessments property values citywide and in the Flour Bluff Independent School District are expected to go up “at least 6%” this year. He said that number is likely to rise as the end of the appraisal cycle approaches and that while the 6% is the expected average increase for the entire FBISD, property values on The Island will likely be on the high side of that.
May 8, 2014
Cabins, more RV sites, walking trail
The latest onslaught was Monday morning when a huge mat of the weed hit the coast overwhelming cleanup crews and bringing with it a swarm of small flying insects which inhabit it.
Property values going up
Weekly
By Dale Rankin The Nueces County Board of Coastal Parks last week unveiled an ambitious plan for revamping and improving Padre Balli Park. The plan, designed by Naismith Engineering, when completed would contain two miles of walking trails, 150 RV sites, 72 tent-camping sites, and 25 cabins. The work would be done in five phases, with $1.5 million currently available for Phase I. The next step in the process, approved by Coastal Park Board members in their monthly meeting last Thursday, is to cost out the entire project and begin an Engineering
Estimate on cost for Phase I of the project which must be approved by Nueces County Commissioners. Then preparations could begin to issue RFPs (Requests for Proposals) from potential Phase I contractors and initiate the bidding process as part of the annual budget cycle in the Fall of 2014. About 67% of the park board funds, which runs Balli Park as well as I.B. McGee Park in Port Aransas, are self-generated by park attractions. The $1.5 million available for Balli improvements has come through savings from park operations and grants.
Cub Scouts A7
Port Aransas Considers Ban on “Big Box” Stores
By Sara Hendricks
Port Aransas City Council is meeting in special session Thursday, May 8, at 5 p.m. in council chambers to talk about placing a moratorium on the building of big box stores within city limits. Big box, for purposes of this measure, is defined as 25,000 square feet of floor space. To get an idea of how big that is, consider the Port Aransas Family Center, whose main building is about 16,000 square feet. Mayor Keith McMullen doesn't know of any such stores that want to build on The Island, but he figures the way things are going on around us, the city could begin to look attractive to large retail outlets. "It's the velocity of change," said McMullen, who was in his office Tuesday to speak to a group of elementary students who were there on a field trip to learn about city government. "We expect change all the time," he said, "but change is coming at us faster." Schlitterbahn, the water park being built on South Padre Island, is a watershed event, McMullen said. "Most people don't understand the impact of Schlitterbahn," he said, listing traffic on Highway 361 and the fact that people will stay on the island longer if there is more for them to do. "I default to keeping Port A's charm as much as we can," McMullen said. His wishes are in line with a focus and vision statement on the city's website that begins with a commitment "to adopt policies that preserve and enhance the unique qualities of life in Port Aransas." The document's vision for Port Aransas in 2025 is that the "City's buildings, streets and public spaces, whether catering to commercial interests or serving the residents, reflect this
Sargassum Invasion!
small seaside town image in terms of both scale and the use of materials." The moratorium, if passed, would be a temporary measure to allow the council time to explore whether they want to add to restrictions already placed on commercial construction.
Live Music A16
The Enemy in Our Backyards
County begins battle to eradicate Brazilian Pepper Trees By Dale Rankin The first part of a $600,000 improvement project at Packery Channel Park was to clear the area of the invasive and non-native Brazilian Pepper Trees. “So far we have cleared four-anda-half acres of Pepper Trees,” said Scott Cross, Supervisor of the Nueces County Coastal Parks Department. “The task now is to keep them out.” The 38-acre park, located between SPID and Packery Channel on the east side of the highway, is undergoing a facelift which will turn it into the Packery Channel Nature Preserve Park featuring native woodlands, wetlands, wildflower areas and bird drip stations to attract birds and the people who watch them. But over the years the area, which in its native state was an oak mott and home to a wide variety of bird species, became overrun with the Brazilian Pepper Trees which soak up the groundwater supply and choke out native plants. The park board’s plan is to remove the non-native species and return the area to its natural state.
Natural state The earliest accounts of vegetation on the north end of Padre Island dating back to the 17th and 18 centuries described lush grasslands broken by tightly packed oak motts. Over the years as man turned the land into pasture and hurricanes did their work, the native plants were displaced to the point that none of the original woodlands exist but the attempt is being made at Packery Channel Park to bring them back. But first the area has to be rid of the invader from Florida.
Trees continued on A8
A Little Island History
How Did The Island Get Annexed by Corpus Christi and Can We Secede? By Dale Rankin This is probably the most common question we get asked by Islanders. The answer is complex and a Freedom of Information request to the city asking for the Annexation Agreement between The Island and the City of Corpus Christi resulted in a deluge of paperwork that leaves the question of annexation about as clear as the Laguna Madre after twenty inches of rain. First off, we want to thank Islander Pat Marschall for her help.
Let’s start at the beginning
If you go to the beach these days you are going to see weed. The Sargassum weed is out there offshore and is expected to keep coming in at least through the end of May. Crews are working to keep the beach clean but as long as the weed is coming in at the current rate it is a losing battle.
How did we get annexed? Annexation of The Island could only come about after the annexation of Flour Bluff. For a detailed history on the fight over whether Flour Bluff should become its own city or become part of Corpus Christi see the last issue of the Moon.
Flour Bluff was annexed in the 1960’s and according to the records provided by the City annexation of The Island began in earnest in 1981. Development on The Island began in the early 1970’s and by the 1980’s Island developers were desirous of city services and began the process of requesting annexation.
History continued on A6