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Irish settlement of the Coastal Bend A6
Rockport Writers Roundup A7 Take a Kid Fishin’ with Farah A9
The Island Moon Published by Island Moon Publishing, LLC 15201 S. Padre Island Drive Ste. 250 Corpus Christi, TX. 78418 editor@islandmoon.com (361) 949-7700
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The
Island Moon The Island Newspaper since 1996
Island Area News ● Events ● Entertainment
May 10, 2012
Photo by Miles Merwin
The Island with more new homes under construction than homeless people Next Publication Date: 5/17/2012
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com
Facebook: The Island Moon Newspaper
Schlitterbahn Master Plan
The biggest moon of the year rose blood red over the eastern sky last Saturday. It made the dogs a little nervous and sent the coyotes into the streets looking for trouble. It did put a high tide up on many of the local beaches which made for better driving conditions in many areas. It was a thing of beauty that had many Islanders awestruck over the weekend while scaring the daylights out of the pagan community.
Year 15, Issue 422
SPID
We’ve hit the sweet spot in the year as far as Island weather, the heat of the summer hasn’t hit yet and the wind hasn’t yet blown the tourists south. The fishing has been spotty but the dolphin watching has been great. Get out and enjoy The Island.
New Canal
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inas
Whitecap
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Aqu a
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Coyote ugly As for the coyotes it’s time to put out the Moon Coyote Lookout Alert as the beasts are becoming bothersome. A man walking his dog on Oakes Street in Port Aransas had his dog snatched right off the leash and carried away by a marauding coyote and reports are coming in from all over The Island that the coyote population is getting more aggressive in their search for Island dogs and cats. So be careful if you are out there with your pets these days. And be aware that they don’t only hunt at night, they are also around in the daytime, and they are not particularly afraid of humans. Don’t leave dog food outside or even open sacks in the garage as they have been known to startle a few Island residents who went out to get Fido some chow only to be confronted by a coyote with his head in the dog food bag. Remember, the coyotes were here first and they’re not ready to leave yet.
Eagle Ford hurray! Let’s all say it together….Hurray for the Eagle Ford Shale! Hurray we say! You can almost feel The Island holding its collective breath as money has started rolling in from the Eagle Ford shale oil play that cuts across Texas’ midsection like a Saturday night trophy buckle spewing black gold. Everyone has their Eagle Ford story; three families buying homes in Port Aransas each with monthly incomes of $750,000, two homes bought on Three Fathoms each in excess of $800,000 – paid for in cash; more than forty homes under construction on The Island and another dozen waiting for permits, a home on Dasmarinas that sold for $150 per square foot. Homes on both ends of The Island – North Padre and Port Aransas – from $350,000 up are selling every week. The inventory of condos is dwindling as buyers wrap up deals. We hear an investor from San Marcos is waiting for a vote on Schlitterbahn before dropping a seven figure investment into Island real estate; a local boat dealer is said to have more than $600,000 in down payment money waiting for that next royalty check to clear the bank at the end of May so the nuevo rich can hit the water, starting salaries for truck drivers in the Eagle Ford are in the $90,000 range. As one local real estate agent puts it, “What’s a flatland farmer going to do the first time someone writes them a royalty check? They’re going to head for the coast and buy a house then put a boat behind it!” We say bring it on baby! You got oil money we got houses and boats, and if we run out we can get more. The current cost of drilling a well in the Eagle Ford has reached $15 million and current production numbers are 30,000 barrels of oil per day with projections for 100,000 barrels per day by 2016. That’s a lot of weekend homes and boats friends. In the hamlet of Carrizo Springs sales tax alone pumped $500,000 into the local economy last year and Alice has the look of a boomtown. Let’s say it all together one more time…Hurray for the Eagle Ford! If the Eagle Ford Shale was Mr. Eagle Ford we’d give him the keys to the city. In the meantime say hello if you see him Around The Island.
Turn to page A9 for a larger version of this map
The Design Plan The plan for the Schlitterbahn Waterpark and Island Walk project involved a total investment of $552 million of private capital over twenty years. It covers 574 acres running from the beach at the Michael J. Ellis Seawall, across Lake Padre and Park Road 22, the Padre Isles Country Club, then across the new Aquarius Extension to the Laguna Madra. Within its confines are the Schlitterbahn Waterpark, a re-configured golf course, hotels, short and long-term condos, residences, retail space, and the Island Walk feature which includes 3600 feet of new canals. The project would be divided into four distinct districts which would be developed in different stages. They are the Park District (designated in yellow in the diagram), the Island Walk District (designated in brown), The Resort District (designated in pink), and the Marina District (designated in blue). The area designated in green is the newly constituted golf course after it is redesigned.
The Proposed Tax Incentive Plan At long last the deal is on the table. After months of speculation on what kind of tax incentive package the City of Corpus Christi and the developers of Schlitterbahn Waterpark and Resort would agree on now we know. The performance-based deal calls for $117 million in tax incentives over the course of 25 years in order to put construction on the $552 million, 574-acre plan into action next month when construction on the Waterpark would begin. The City Council has placed the entire plan on its website for public viewing and the public is invited to comment there and in person at the next council meeting on Tuesday, May 15, and again at the following meeting on Tuesday, May 22 when a final vote on the plan will be taken. The tax incentive plan The highlights of the plan are as follows: All but $5 million of the $117 million in tax breaks comes from revenue generated by the new
development. The majority comes from sales tax money rebated to the developers from new cash flow once businesses in the development are up and running and generating sales tax dollars. There is no bond money involved and no money taken from current city revenues; only from sales tax revenue generated by new, future cash flow. That means no financial risk to the city with a potential payback on the sales tax investment at a rate of five dollars return for every dollar in incentives.
The majority of the $117 million in tax dollars - $78 million – would come from the Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) revenue generated from new hotels in the development. That money, by state law, must be used for tourism related projects and the vast majority of the HOT money now generated on The Island is used for projects not on The Island. The plan, simply put, would earmark $78 million in HOT money generated by the new development on The Island specifically for Island projects. Tax Incentive Continued on A8
Grand Opening of Aquarius Extension Saturday!
Dawning of The Age!
Miss Bella Says hello to a friendly dolphin while cruising Lydian Channel on the Stray Cat Photo by Jan Rankin
Flour Bluff Skate Park Will Become Reality For the past two years the Flour Bluff Business Association, Lions Club and many community supporters have been washing cars, making barbeque, and scratching to raise the $85,000 needed for a skate park there. No more. The fundraising came to an end Wednesday when the Highland Property Development Corp. kicked in the final $30,000 needed for the park and put the project over the top. The City of Corpus Christi also has pledged $45,000 for the project, and the Flour Bluff Lions Club raised $2,850. Construction is set to begin in the fall of this year after input from skate boarder on what elements they want to include in the park. The park will be located at Wranosky Park on Graham Road.
If the world actually ends later this year it will not be before the opening of the Aquarius Extension as predicted by Island cynics. Mark your calendar for a day many Islanders thought would never come; the Grand Opening of the $1.4 million Aquarius Extension. The event starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 12 with a convergence of celebrants by golf carts, pedestrians, bicycles, baby stroller and any other means of transportation available. It doesn’t matter how you get there just show up. Meet at the Fire Station at Commodores and Aquarius where refreshments will be served. The first car will (officially) transverse the new section of road between Dasmarinas on the south and Commodores on the north at 11 a.m. The identity of the person behind the wheel of that car is still a mystery, known only
to John White at press time, but no matter who the driver is the event will mark a watershed in Island development. The project includes a new walking/bike trail that runs the length of the extension. It may seem like a small thing to the uninitiated but to longtime Island residents who have often looked at that pockmarked stretch of dirt road and wondered why it wasn’t paved it is a sign that times they are a-changing. It has taken countless hours of work by White, the city staff, developer Paul Schexnailder and prodding by the Island Strategic Action Committee to come up with a plan that could be turned into reality. The money for the project was approved by votes in the 2008 bond election.
Aquarius Continued on A5