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The
Island Moon The Island Newspaper since 1996
Island Area News ● Events ● Entertainment
June 21, 2012
Photo by Brent Rourke
The Only Island with more than 50 lots sold this year
Around The Island
By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com By Dale Rankin
Rain two days in a row, that’s got to be some kind of an Island record for June. It wasn’t much and it mostly just left big spots on our cars and puddles just big enough for the dogs to get their feet wet but its still water from the sky. We could really feel summer kick in this year when the air temps jumped up in early June and stayed there. We have had beautiful water coming in through the Packery this week but so far it has not made its way into the canals which still look like the Mississippi River after the spring floods. Beach driving has been good and water temperature has been cooler than normal for this time of year.
Beach rules The City of Corpus Christi has now adopted a countywide Erosion Response Plan that puts in place a 350 foot building setback line located 350 feet landward of the Line of Vegetation along the Gulf beach. The building setback line will prevent new construction of residential or commercial buildings from there to the dune line. It is long overdue to have one plan for the entire area rather than the hodgepodge we’ve had historically and we want to thank Greg Smith for the work he has done to make this happen.
Windstorm and FEMA maps The next big items governing Island development will be over Windstorm insurance rates, a fight which looks like it may be resolved with a lawsuit, and the new FEMA maps which are done but won’t become public until at least August. According to early information from the city those new maps may remove some crucial areas of The Island from COBRA zones which would mean they become eligible for federal flood insurance. The main area to watch is the Tortuga Dunes development along Zahn Road. City engineers who have seen the FEMA maps say that because of the improved dune structure there that area may be changed from a COBRA zone to a High Velocity Zone which would make it eligible for federally backed insurance, the lack of which has been a hindrance to development there. Other areas of The Island may also be changed since we have built up our dune structure over the past decade. The way an area is zoned by FEMA is related to height above mean sea level but the real determining factor is whether an area will get waves of 1.5 feet during a high tide event (hurricane). If so, then it is a COBRA zone. We will publish the new maps as soon as they become available because they are the first new FEMA maps for The Island since the mid 1980s and will have a huge impact on Island development for many years.
Parking your dog There is a move afoot to build a dog park at the existing Aquarius Park. The effort is in the early stages and the organizers will need something in the neighborhood of $40,000 to make it happen. We will keep you up to date on the park’s progress and maybe the Moon can help raise some of the money in the next few months. The beach has always served as our dog park here on The Island but now with the new Aquarius providing a way for everyone to get from one side of The Island to the other a dog park is an idea whose time has come. Here’s saying hurray for Fido having his own park. We’ll see you at the Island Moon Market this Saturday at the seawall parking lot. In the meantime say hello if you see us Around The Island.
Island Moon Market This Saturday June 23 The next Island Moon Market is set for Saturday, June 23 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the Michael J. Ellis Seawall. More than forty vendors have signed up this time and the site will be moved to the seawall in front of the parking lot. Vendors with everything from Texas wine to homemade jams, jellies and even homemade habanera ice cream will be on hand, and as always there will be live music at the Sandbar. The markets will be held there the fourth Saturday of each month through the summer. So in case you needed one now you have another reason to head to the beach.
Next Publication Date: 6/28/2012
Power to The Island
Power Grid That Feeds The Island is Getting a Makeover
Year 15, Issue 428
Construction Boom Hits The Island
By Sara Hendricks You live on an island where the salt air leaves a fine crust on your skin. If you haven’t got a bandana, the salty perspiration drips into your eyes and stings like crazy. That’s the good news. The bad news is that without a cleansing rain that same fine crust of salt lies on electricity transmission lines and transformers, resulting in loss of power. And that can spell doom for appliances – refrigerators in particular, said Ernie Resendez with Affordable Appliance Repair in Port Aransas. “If the power goes on and off real fast the compressor doesn’t have time to equalize,” he said. According to AEP’s public relations man, nature is to blame. “The island is on the front line where Mother Nature causes problems,” Andy Heines said.
There are currently more than forty houses under construction on The Island. Vacant lots are going at a premium as inventory is used up. Many of the new homes are Spec homes but most are sold by the time they are completed. Since January 1st, 51 lots have sold on The Island.
Deer Island
Last year, during the statewide drought, crews were spraying down the power lines with de-ionized water because of saltwater contamination, he said. Don’t try this yourself, Heines warned. As an appliance repairman at Coastal Bend Appliance said, you can turn yourself into a lightbulb. Getting power to the people of Port Aransas is stymied by contamination on the insulators that cause flash-overs, which damage the insulators, said David Solis, AEP’s station manager for Corpus Christi and Victoria. And rust – the bane of automobiles, boats and anything metal – plays havoc with the transmission or high voltage side of things, he said. To alleviate that problem, they’ve switched from an air-insulated substation to a gasinsulated one, putting most of the equipment in a controlled environment. They’ve also added Power Continued on A 5
4th of July Watercraft Parade The Padre Isles 4th of July Watercraft Parade is less than two weeks away. When it comes to parades our Island has three great ones, the La Posada Boat Parade, the Barefoot Mardi Gras Parade, and the Padre Isles 4th of July Watercraft Parade. This year’s July 4th parade will be the 13th Annual event and will take place on Wednesday, July 4 starting at 7:30 p.m. in the canal at the Padre Island Yacht Club. Island Moon founder Mike Ellis and Islanders Ann Weber and Harald Meyer started the parade after a particularly brutal La Posada Lighted Boat Parade which left everyone a little frostbitten. The idea was pretty simple; do a parade in the summer when it’s hot but at least predictable – unless of course there’s a hurricane which would mean the parade would go by very quickly. The only change this year is a later starting time to avoid the heat. The muster will begin at 7:30 and the parade at 8 p.m. Any kind of watercraft is invited from boats of all types and sizes, to windboards, Stand Up Paddleboards, kayaks, and canoes. No preregistration is required, the only requirement is that you show up. A panel of judges (some judge spots are still available) will crown Mr. and Mrs. Independence Day as well as the watercraft which are the Most Patriotic, and Most Enthusiastic. The judges, and a great party, will be on the docks at the homes of Ann, Harald, and neighbor Sue Ramsey at 13766 Three Fathoms Bank. This is a great annual gathering which has been going on for well, thirteen years, and a good place for longtime Island residents to see old friends and new Island residents to meet longtime Islanders. Don’t be shy. There is also a move afoot this year to have a cardboard boat race prior to the parade. This is in the planning stage, which is to say waiting for someone to take charge, so we’ll see. But if you have something that floats now’s the time to decorate it and get ready. For questions call Harald at 361 937-2423. With this year’s parade in the middle of the week and later in the evening, even people who work that day can still take part. It’s time to launch the boat and fly the flag folks, we’ll see you on the water!
Here is a pic we took of a deer out on a spoil island in the Lagoon this week, it’s the third deer seen in the last few weeks traveling off the island to the mainland, summer conditions and drought are tough on all Island residents. Photo by Joey Farah
On the Rocks By Jay Gardener Kevin grinned at me as he reared back with the rod and flung his custom-made lure up towards the rig. Two pops, “chug, chug” and the water around the lure exploded violently and his drag screamed line out headed towards Cuba. After a few minutes of some fancy footwork around the deck, Kevin finally got some gumption on the fish and got it headed towards the boat. We eventually saw some color, and then got it within gaff range. What is it? A yellowfin tuna? A grander blackfin? Amberjack? As it came out of the darkness below the boat, we saw that it was a horse-eye jack. Fun fight, but not really the groceries we were after. Bummer. Time to do another drift and cast again.
Offshore report-no weed
clear water, then a dirty water “finger”, then some bluish water, and then straight to brown. Unfortunately, checking my records from last year, there’s another culprit keeping the dirty water nearshore.
Cool water upwelling Upwelling is headed our way again this year. Tyler went down to South Padre to celebrate Rob’s birthday, and said the water was very dirty and chillier than normal. It’s some phenomenon that seems to repeat itself year after year, and many folks seem surprised about it when it rolls around again. If you want to do your own investigations, go online to http://lighthouse. tamucc.edu and go to the TCOON site and start picking at the stations. I suggest you start with the one on Bob Hall Pier. The upwelling event brings in some cooler water from the bottom of the Gulf, and unfortunately it carries with it a lot of silt which is causing the nearshore waters to continue to be very dirty. Beach fisherpersons have
Alrighty campers, here’s your offshore report. Those of you folks out there that are responsible for cleaning the Sargassum off the beaches should be happy about this news; we went 80 miles out and didn’t see a patch of the stuff larger than a skateboard. While there were a few areas that had some scattered weed to it, there really just wasn’t much out there. This falls in line with what we experienced last year chasing those mahi offshore. May was the best month (heavy sargassum and flatter seas) with the early part of June being pretty good too. By the end of June last year, Kevin Eager and horse-eye jack the Sargassum had slacked up, and by historically had a tough time catching anything the early part of July we couldn’t find any of more than hard heads in this water. At this the stuff within 50 miles of the coast. Too bad writing, the upwelling coming from down south the water just off the beach is dirty color, and is “pinching out” and hopefully it will entrain in fact it’s dirty out to 14 miles out of Packery. On the Rocks Continued on A 4 There was an interesting rip out there, with