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
August 12, 2011
Phone (361) 949-7700 ● Email editor@islandmoon.com The voice of the Island since 1996
Photo by Jan Rankin
Around The Island By Dale Rankin editor@islandmoon.com
Real estate Roundup
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Things Heating Up As Market Gets Jittery
On the bright side we got lots of national exposure when the Weather Channel turned up for the Big Blow only to be left doing live shots from the Holiday Inn about the Storm That Wasn’t. We were a little disappointed because those weather guys always stand out there in the high winds clutching a telephone pole and getting pelted by rain. There aren’t any telephone poles on Ellis Beach so those guys were going to get blown to kingdom come and that would have been fun to watch. But we are entering the time of the hurricane season when we historically have taken hits so let’s cross our fingers. Blue salty soup The Gulf water is like soup. Warm blue soup with lots of salt. Our water temps have been hovering somewhere between tepid and hot tub around 88 degrees most days - and the best way to cool off is to get in the water and right back out into the wind. In the mornings the water is actaully hotter than the air. Because the two things we got plenty of these days are warm salt water and wind. What we don’t have is rain. But as a cockeyed optimist once said, “It is truely an ill wind that doesn’t blow somebody some good” and our tradeoff is when we don’t have rain we get nice beautiful Gulf water and we have plenty of that. The water off our beaches is as blue
ARRGH! Pirate Scourge in Port Aransas Story on B1
as, well, the water was the last time we a drought a couple years back. Plus, we are having a tourist season for the ages as Hill Country rivers dry up and Texans look for water to recreate and they head for the Gulf. It is a reminder of the wisdom of the old Texas line, “When God made Texas he made enough land for everybody, but only enough water to fight over.” But the rising air over the middle of the continent continues to pull winds in off the Gulf so while the rest of the state and country have record high temps and no water we have plenty of wind and water. This ain’t your grandpa’s drought Before we begin preparing for the apocolypse let’s grab a little historical perspective. In 1947 it stopped raining in Texas and didn’t start Around Island Continued A 6
August 28, Whitecap Beach
Year 15, Issue 394
Latest plans for Schlitterbahn and Island development
Inside the Moon
We played chicken with our first hurricane of the season and like so many before it the King Ranch swallowed it whole. One day we were getting ready to board up and the next we barely even got any rain. We were actually willing to put up with some wind in order to get the rain. The winds in Tropical Storm Don only looked to be in the 70-80 range and that’s hardly a stiff breeze around here. We had cold fronts this winter that blew North winds higher than that and if it meant getting ten inches of rain then bring it on. Instead, Don got a little ways offshore and the eye went one way and the rain went the other but none of them came here.
Next Publication Date: 08/19/2011
Developer: “We Are Looking to Enhance the Island Experience”
By Dale Rankin
Editor’s note: Last issue was the first time we ran this feature and frankly we were a bit surprised at the response. Seems a lot of Islanders are interested in the subject, many of whom are in the real estate business, some of whom would just as soon not have been included in the Real Estate Roundup. But many tips started coming in. Bear in mind that for the most part these are private transactions which cannot be verified through public records, but here goes. The real estate market is starting to churn a bit as the investors try to stay ahead of any announcement on a waterpark or other major development. In general it seems to be a time of quiet acquisition for those with the money to buy and hold. We’re hearing of one individual buying tracts on the east and south sides of Lake Padre. These are both single family lots and multi-family, commercial lots. Another buyer snapped up fifteen units at a condo complex near the Padre Isles Country Club where an adjacent tract is also for sale. Both would be in a good spot if the planned changes come to the golf course as the riverwalk feature would connect them to the remainder of the island canal system and they would be close enough to get splashed by the Schlitterbahn’s Lazy River.
Proposed Roadway elevation
22.17 ft
Water Level
Person Reading Island Moon
10 ft
Proposed Bridge Cross Section
10 ft
Gypsy lullaby More people seem to be looking at houses in the Cruiser Canal area and the areas around the east end of the main canal. This presumably is because those houses will have direct access to Lake Padre and the planned developments around the Country Club if the Cruiser Canal is connected to the bridge that the city is working to get built connecting that new canal and Lake Padre. It would mean boaters could get to open water through the Packery without having to go all the way around to the JFK Causeway and would also be near the planned development along the riverwalk.
While these plans are almost certain to change, these are the current plan for the area in and around Padre Isles Country Club, including a waterpark, riverwalk and bridge to Lake Padre area. By Dale Rankin
tial instead of a waterpark.”
Island developer Paul Schexnailder gave the public their first look at the latest drawings for the proposed Schlitterbahn Beach Country Village on The Island at the monthly Kiwanis Club luncheon last week.
He said the parking facilities will be similar to those at the South Padre park where there is a 15 50-acre parking lot. The park, if the project goes through, would be expected to open by Spring Break of 2013.
It is the first comprehensive public disclosure of plans for the park and would change The Island is fundamenReal Estate Continued on page A 6 tal ways. “We are looking to change the island experience,” Schexnailder said. “We don’t believe in chain restaurants. We are looking to provide a tourist setting with locally operated, shops and restaurants where there is some local flavor.
While details of the plan are expected to change as budgets and economic studies are complete, the planned “Transportainment River” concept for the new park would mark the sixth fifth time Schlitterbahn has been involved in the planning of such a development. The Island “Transportainment River” about a mile in length would be the longest they have built.
Bless the Animals
This will be a low profile park,” he said. “Nothing will be more than about thirty five feet high and the design will take advantage of the topography at the site.”
A planning drawing for Padre Isles Country Club showing the location of new holes in He said the park exwhite and new riverwalk marked in red. pects to attract more than 300,000 people per year, about 3000 per day for 120 days out of the year. He said a traffic study will be done to determine how best to manage the flow of vehicles to and from the park and that design plans call for three separate parking entrances. Currently, about 25,000 vehicles per day travel down SPID on The Island past the site where the park is planned. Out of that number, 60% - 15,000- turn north on S.H. 361. The park is expected to generate an additional 1000 vehicles which will enter the park through three separated entrances. Diggers, car chasers, snarlers, biters, jumpers, growlers, runners, scratchers, barkers, stinkers, whiners, beggers, and carpet soilers take notice. Help is at hand! On August 28, Island Presbyterian Church will Bless the Animals at the 8:00 a.m.beach service service on Whitecap Beach. Everyone is welcome to bring your favorite animal or animals for this special blessing of God’s creatures. Biters and runners should be kept on a leash until after their blessing when hoperully they will see the error of their ways. Pictured are man’s best friends being blessed last year by Rev. Rick Mills.
-13.19 ft
Elevation of Current Roadway
“So traffic at the intersection of Highway 361 and Commodores would either go left to the beach or right to the Village,” Schexnailder said. “We don’t have a “first pitch” time like a sporting event. People will come and go as they want to without everyone having to show up at the same time. We would generate a lot more traffic on Island roads if we developed the area as entirely residen-
They recently expanded their newly opened park in Kansas City and the original park in New Braunfels to include a similar feature. They also design “transportainment Rivers for Atlantis in the Bahamas and for a park in Dubai. The New Braunfels park is located in a residential neighborhood and attracts about 1 million visitors per year.
The “Transportainment” concept is a combination of transportation, sport, and entertainment – which is designed to minimize the amount of time visitors spend standing in line. Instead, while they are waiting to go on a ride they float thru circle the park in tubes riding down falls and through white water. This ride is anything but a Lazy River. “Transportainment” takes you to all areas of the park without having to leave the water. The “Transportainment River” is powered by gravity with 96” diameter Archimedes’ screw pumps lifting 65,000 gallons of water per minute. All of the water used in the park is filtered and recycled,
The water park would be part of a larger development plan for the area that calls for nine of the holes on Padre Isles Country Club to be moved (see diagram) and for a Water Park Continued on page A 6