The Island Moon Published by Island Moon Publishing, LLC 15201 S. Padre Island Drive Ste. 250 Corpus Christi, TX. 78418 editor@islandmoon.com
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Island Moon The Island Newspaper
Island Area News ● Events ● Entertainment
July 29, 2011
Phone (361) 949-7700 ● Email editor@islandmoon.com The Island where redfish go to school - see photo at right
Around The Island By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com We’ve got a lot going on Around The Island so let’s get right to it. Rewiring The Island You may have noticed a bunch of trucks with digging equipment running around lately. They are literaly rewiring The Island. The guys digging trenches and putting in pipe along the median in Whitecap are crews from AT&T and they are running a connection from their building near Gypsy all the way down Whitecap to the tower near the water treatment plant. When they are done we will have full 4G service for AT&T users. The Moon New Technology Department is not real sure what that means but they tell us that 4G is at least 25% better than 3G so we’ve got that going for us. There is another covey of crews working over near the Tesoro area who are putting in lines for Grande Cable. Grande is a regional provider that began just over ten years ago in San Marcos and already has service to the part of the Island nearest to the Laguna.
Inside the Moon
A Few More Chances To See A Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle Hatchling Release This Year Page A 3
Island Night Life Page A 4
Negotitations for the sale of the Padre Isles Country Club are still ongoing and we’re told an announcement may be forthcoming in the next few weeks but there is no firm date so far that we are aware of. A bridge too far On a related subject the Corpus Christi City Council is is scheduled to vote on the construction of the water-exchange bridge under SPID (Park Road 22) in one of their August meetings. As of the last writing money for the $7 million dollar project was $1.6 million short. The latest is that all the money – the $1.6 million plus $4 million pledged by the city, plus $1.4 million that was in the 2004 bond package for the brige project– will all come from that same 2004 package. The additional money will come from savings on projects already completed.Once the Around Island Continued A 5
Year 15, Issue 393
brings emails or calls about things that happened over the weekend. So, at the risk of repeating myself, and for those of you who think this does not apply to you, I hope you will read on. Canals are not garbage cans
Area of proposed development
The canals are not the depositary place for the fish carcasses and innards! DO NOT use the canals as a garbage can. These things do not disappear. There are not enough “critters” in the canal to eat them because too much has been put in the water and instead of supporting the life cycle, you have actually stopped it. Please put the fish cleaning leftovers in the city garbage can, or use them in your planting area. They do make good fertilizer. Another alternative is to freeze them and then put them in the trash Friday morning.
Arial Photography by Olaf Johansen
Neither are yards
The area shown here is the location of the Packery Pointe Subdivision plan done by the city in Dog owners can’t seem to get the 2009. Among other things, the plan calls for a road to provide an alternate route to SPID for message that they should pick up getting to SH 361 and Port Aransas. It also shows the area which is said to be under contract to after their dog does its business. a developer.
Real Estate Roundup
Light polution
Island Projects
Again, nothing is coming from official sources but here is what we hear: Members of the Schlitterbahn management team are putting the finishing touches on their new ride at their big park in New Braunfels and then will be on The Island in the next few weeks to look around. We also hear the city of Cedar Park just north of Austin is putting on a push to get the park located there and is offering an attractive financial package but there is a concern that Cedar Park is too close to New Braunfels to have another park and it seems unlikely that will happen.
Next Publication Date: 08/12/2011
News From Your POA Monday mornings at the POA office
Neighbors don’t like to tell you, but they do not want your dog using their yard as a “bathroom.” Be courteous and responsible pet owners. Pick up after your dog!
So pretty soon the Island we be all wired up. Now if we can just get good phone service all the way down PINS so we can call for help when we’re stuck in deep sand. A commom question around the Word Factoy these days is What’s going on with Schlitterbahn? We don’t get much information from official sources on this subject as the ongoing talks are between private parties who are not obliged to release anything to the public. Developer Paul Schexnailder is scheduled to make a presentation to the Kiwanas Club on The Island the day after this writing so we should have some details from that meeting in the next issue and on our Facebook page in the next few days.
Lights on canals. Please, do not leave your outdoor light on all night. There are good motion detectors available for lights which will only turn the lights on if someone or something gets too close to your dock. You might also check into a shield which will shine the light on your area and not across the canal or into your neighbor’s house. You have no idea how far that light shines and how annoying it can be to the person who is trying to sleep. Boat trailers Boat trailer stickers are required on your trailer and a vehicle sticker is required on the vehicle towing the trailer. They are available at the POA office. We issue a warning sticker the first time we find you do not have a sticker, but you will be towed if we find you again. The ramps are patrolled every day. Mulch and brush Mulch will not be coming to the Island any time soon. The big fire over the weekend of July 24 was at the City landfill and the mulch is what burned, unfortunately. Brush set out time is OVER! The POA Continued on page A 4
By Dale Rankin
Deal Reportedly Made for Option on 61-Acre Island Tract
Editor’s note: The real estate business is a cornerstone of the Island economy and almost all of the tranactions are between private parties so until property actually changes hands there is little on the public record. In the interest of keeping readers up to date we are starting the Real Estate Roundup. In the spirite of the Wall Street Journal’s Heard on the Street we’ll pass along what we hear.
frontage property on SPID on one side to Packery Channel on the other. The site is part of a Federal Management District that can issue bonds, and according to the San Antonio reps, while the entire 61 acre site is not included in the district it can be expanded so that all 61 acres is part of the district. We have not heard a number for the purchase price of the larger, 50-acre, parcel but the agreed price for the 11-acre site is said to be in the $1.7 million range. The cost of the purchase option, we are told, is “just into six figures.” When the owner of the larger parcel was contacted by phone he would not confirm the options but did say the property “has not been sold.”
a 45-day purchase option has been signed for 61 acres of land located on the east side of SPID just north of the Best Western motel
Some of the content is of a second-hand, heresay nature and some is from public record. We encourage anyone with information they want to share to send it along. We will list our source so readers can make their own judgment on what is fact and what is heresay. A deal?
According to some out of town businessmen who were on The Island last week a 45-day purchase option has been signed for 61 acres of land located on the east side of SPID just north of the Best Western motel. The land is made up of two parcels, one 50 acres and the other 11. The land is the site where Islander Clyde Smith tried to build a grocery store several years ago and runs from
There is no word on what the potential owners have planned for the site.
The development would be in line with a study commissioned by the City of Corpus Christi and conducted by Urban Engineering in 2009 that calls for Aquarius to be extended across SPID onto the 61-acre tract and connected with a road running off SPID near the cur-
Real Estate Continued on page A 4
Healthy Growth or Pandora’s Box?
Port Aransas City Council Approves Move That Could Bring Beach Vendors
By Meredith Dunning
The issue of allowing beach vendors on the beaches inside the Port Aransas city limits drew a crowd and aroused heated debates at Thursday’s meeting of the Port Aransas City Council. Residents attending the meeting and members of the council split almost evenly over the issue. Pending the Texas General Land Office approval, the amendment to the city’s Coastal Management Plan opens the door for the City Council to approve a proposed ordinance that would permit vending. Before a City Hall crowd that packed chambers with interested residents, the council passed the amendment on a split vote of 4-3 in favor, the issue will most likely be put to a vote by the residents in the next election cycle. Councilman Charles Bujan has already begun the process via petition by affidavit, which would require the signatures of about 170 voters, more than 40 of whom were gathered at Thursday’s City Council meeting. “I was elected to make decisions for all of Port Aransas,” stated Councilman Keith Donley, who voted in favor of the amendment, “Not just the vocal few…We have a fiduciary responsibility to the city… It’s free enterprise.”
A man awoke on Windjammer last Monday morning and noticed his car was missing. It was later Councilman Edwin Myers and Councilwoman Glenda founding floundering in the second cut at the end of Whitecap. Balentine, who both voted against the amendment, in-
sisted they were elected to make decisions on behalf of the people who live in Port Aransas, not the tourists. Together with Bujan, they stated the residents of Port Aransas must decide the issue and want to put it on a citywide ballot.
The amendment provides that City Council would be able to assume local control over its own beaches, giving the city the autonomy to “chart its own course,” according to Mayor Keith McMullin, who voted yes to the amendment. The Mayor and several other Councilmen also stated several times that the city had no immediate plans for vending, but that control over the beaches might empower the city’s interests at some point down the line. “But what may be appropriate ten years from now may be something entirely different,” said Mayor McMullin.
Toward the end of the meeting, the Mayor was asked to elaborate on these potential future advantages, which were determined to be the power to implement vending plan(s). In protest, residents such as Bill Simms continued to echo the familiar mantra, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
“Doesn’t the Planning and Zoning Department already have a plan ?” said Councilman Myers. City Planning Beach Vendors Continued A 4