HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee - 09/03/2015 WATERSHORE AND BEACH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING
Regular Called Meeting, Thursday, September 3, 2015 5:30 p.m.
Staff Conference Room, City Hall
1201 Leopard Street, Corpus Christi, TX
Members Present Members Absent Staff Present
Cameron Perry Paulette Kluge Stacie Talbert
Cliff Schlabach Martha Lawhon
Joseph DePalma
Jay Gardner
Carrie Robertson Meyer
Jennifer Pollack
I. CALL TO ORDER
Meeting called to order at 5:30 p.m.
II. ROLL CALL
The roll was called and a quorum was present.
I. ADOPTION OF MINUTES
Minutes from the August 13, 2015 meeting were distributed for review and approval. Jay made a motion
to accept the minutes as presented, Cliff seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed.
IV. HEAR FROM THE PUBLIC - NONE
V. BUSINESS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION
1. New Business
a. CMP Update
The Parks Department Project Manager in Capital Projects is leaving 9/4/15 and the position has not
been filled. Currently the City is using a paid consultant to assist with implementing projects; however,
due to limited resources, some projects are not on schedule and have been put on hold. As a result, the
City Parks Department won't be preparing Coastal Management Program (CMP)grant applications for
the current cycle. The Parks Department will reassess next application period. Regarding CEPRA, the
Packery Channel project has been submitted. The proposed Bird Watching trail/infrastructure is still on
the North Beach stakeholder's master plan but was not under consideration at this time for submittal to
the City.
b. ASBPA Update
Cameron attended the Texas Chapter's meeting in Galveston and gave the committee a summary.
Some discussion was based on ways to protect the coastal areas in case of a storm surge in the
Galveston area. Ike Dike; named after hurricane Ike and the flood gates (dikes) in Holland, would raise
highways FM3005 and 87 at a cost of 5 to 6 billion dollars. Another group suggested an Upper Bay
Gate that would protect the shipping channels in Houston but south of there would be unprotected.
Another suggestion is looking at a series of gates tied in with the Texas City dike. The Corps of
Engineers and the GLO are teamed up looking at the Coast of Texas study. GLO is the local sponsor of
the study. The ASBPA National Conference will be in New Orleans in October. The RESTORE Council,
under the RESTORE Act, is made up of representatives from each state designated by that state's
governor. This Act is setup with a series of funding streams called buckets; Bucket 1 will consist of
funds sent directly to the 5 Gulf States and TCEQ will administer these projects. TCEQ will be
developing a plan that includes projects to be funded. The City will likely be seeking funds to address
bay water quality projects. A meeting will be held in Corpus Christi on September 29th by TCEQ to go
over project scoring and plan development.
2. Old Business for Discussion/Action
a. Beach Camp Fire Subcommittee
2
The subcommittee (Joe, Cliff and Jay) revised the existing Sec. 10-67 and distributed copies of what
they can up with. Item (c) (1) noted "500' from a permanent structure"which Joe had initially wanted but
has reconsidered to 250'. Jay presented to ISAC that#4 of Sec 10-67 Fires regulated could be tied to
an existing ordinance. The subcommittee is going to speak to other coastal communities to see how
they handle#4 (prohibited materials to burn) and Stacie will check with Buck to see if there is something
already on the books that might address this. Filling in the pit/hole is an issue; it affects the beach
workers and visitors. Signage will be needed. The subcommittee will meet again and report to the
committee next meeting.
VI. STAFF LIAISON REPORT
1. Beach and Natural Resources Superintendent
The previous Beach and Natural Resource Superintendent Ram Lopez has left the City; he took a job at
the refinery. Russell Armstrong is a new hire at the city with Park Operations and has been
recommended to take over the position. However he cannot change position for 6 months due to new
hire probation requirements, but will be working as the Superintendent temporarily. The Supervisor and
Maintenance Foreman positions (both under the Superintendent) are still vacant and Jacob Brown has
taken the lead for the lifeguards. Billy is doing a great job on beach maintenance work according to Cliff.
2. Trash Removal Program Review
The question was raised "should we adopt what Port Aransas is doing?". Port Aransas has a different
set of issues with the beach compared to Corpus Christi. Concerns about trash pickup on City beaches
include whether trash removal would be an automatic system, and if so, would a change of trash
containers be required? It was reported that the automatic system South Padre Island uses has been
down for 90 days. An additional question asked was "Should we utilize a lift or dump that can be put on
the back of a pickup truck?"The Parks Department is looking into these issues and will likely as that
WBAC create a subcommittee to review these issues and provide recommendations.
VII. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA
1. Beach Camp Fires Subcommittee
2. RESTORE Act Update
3. Trash Subcommittee Formation
4. Committee Vacancies— Under Liaison Report
5. Beach & Dune Forum Report
VIII. ADJOURNMENT
As there was no further business, Jay made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Joe seconded the motion.
Meeting adjourned at 6:38 p.m.
Martha Lawhon, Management Assistant
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