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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee - 10/01/2015 WATERSHORE AND BEACH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Regular Called Meeting, Thursday, October 1, 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 Reba George Cliff Schlabach Carrie Robertson-Meyer Martha Lawhon Joseph DePalma Russell Armstrong Jay Gardner Jay Ellington 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 September 3, 2015 meeting were distributed for review and approval. Joe made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, Cliff seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. IV. HEAR FROM THE PUBLIC - NONE V. STAFF LIAISON REPORT 1 Reba introduced Russell Armstrong, the new Interim Gulf Beach and Natural Resource Superintendent and Jay Ellington, the new Director of Parks and Recreation. She also relayed that interviews are being held today and tomorrow for the Maintenance Foreman, Senior Heavy Equipment Operator and the Gulf Beach Supervisor positions. The position of Program Manager will be posted soon and this position oversees the rescue, permit and code enforcement areas. Cameron spoke about the 2 WBAC vacancies; 1 At Large and 1 Environmentalist. Staff will call the city secretary to see if there have been any applicants. The city council chooses the member. Joe DePalma gave his resignation to the committee because he is transferring to another Holiday Inn and therefore would not qualify as a Hotel/Condo owner. He would however like to be a member At Large. Joe has spoken to some of the local hotel/condo owners and has someone who might be interested. 2 The State Hotel Occupancy Tax for the Gulf& Bay Shorelines is approximately 3 million with the first deposit coming in January. 2/3 of this will be for nourishment and 1/3 will be for operations and public safety. The committee needs to assist with a priority listing. The list of areas will be provided in the next meeting. There needs to be a priority that allows for long term planning. The budget will be discussed in the next meeting. VI. BUSINESS 1. New Business for Discussion/Action a. Beach & Dunes Forum Report Cameron reported on the morning topics which were mainly technical discussions based on the economics; replacement cost. How can we combine the economics and the value of habitat and industries and come up with a "real value"for all of it. Jay spoke of the damage that driving on the dunes produces. Mallory (a presenter) had a great presentation on "blow outs" on Padre Island and that some of the cause is due to driving too close to the dunes. Jay will get a copy of her presentation for the committee. Ruben Trevino had some great drone footage of South Padre Island. Tony Amos presented footage from a camera placed in the same location in Port Aransas over a period of about 5 years. The bottom line being that wash over protection is needed. 2. Old Business for Discussion/Action a. Beach Camp Fire Subcommittee 2 Joe did some research on how some other cities handle campfires and found that Galveston &South Padre do not allow campfires within the city limits. Others had the same restriction as we have. The compromised 250' restriction would protect the Island House, Holiday Inn, Portofino and EI Constante. Jennifer suggested that we need to add the lifeguard stands to the ordinance. Cameron suggested that instead of naming structure just have the ordinance state "any structure"; that would include the lifeguard stands. It was also suggested that: "if" be removed from (c), (c) (2) be removed in total and (3) becomes (e). All the recommendation were passed onto the subcommittee and they will make the revisions and have an updated proposal next meeting. b. RESTORE Act Update Jennifer brought booklets from the meeting on the 9/29. Reba reported that the emphasis for the City's application for RESTORE funds, according to Tom Tagliabue, Intergovernmental Relations Director, will be on Oso Bay Wetland Preserve and water quality and quantity. The City has hired a grant consultant (Frank Fuller)for the Oso Bay application which will include land acquisition, restoration and buildings. The funds for this will be from "bucket 1"which comes directly from the state. TCEQ is the agency that will be administering the funds and they will be placing application on the website (RestoreTheTexasCoast.org) in January. When looking at projects they will be looking for; good, sound projects, good value and matching funds. Comments are being taken online, at RestoreTheTexasCoast.org, through October 9th. c. Trash Subcommittee Formation The subcommittee will be Jay, Cliff, and Cameron. Russ will represent Parks and Recreation. A meeting with Solid Waste, the subcommittee and Parks & Recreation will be set up to discuss some ideas. The meeting date, time and location will be determined at a later date. VII. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA 1. Blowouts 2. Beach Camp Fires 3. Trash Subcommittee 4. Committee Reappointments/Terms/Vacancies 5. State Hotel Occupancy Tax Spending Update & Budget VIII. ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business, Cliff made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Joe seconded the motion. Meeting adjourned at 6:33 p.m. Martha Lawhon, Management Assistant C:\Users\Tam era rWppdata\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\ZQFLP32G\100115 Minutes.Doc