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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee - 01/07/2016 WATERSHORE AND BEACH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Regular Called Meeting, Thursday, January 7, 2016 5:30 p.m. Staff Conference Room, City Hall 1201 Leopard Street, Corpus Christi, TX Members Present Members Absent Staff Present Cliff Schlabach Cameron Perry Stacie Talbert Joseph DePalma Mukesh Subedee Russell Armstrong Jay Gardner Martha Lawhon Paulette Kluge Carrie Robertson-Meyer Jennifer Pollack I. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 5:33 p.m. II. ROLL CALL The roll was called and a quorum was present. I. ADOPTION OF MINUTES Minutes from the November 5, 2015 meeting were distributed for review and approval. Paulette made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, Joe seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. IV. HEAR FROM THE PUBLIC Eric Angus from North Beach was here just to observe; he is interested in being on the board. Carolyn Vaughan, a City Council member was here to observe. V. BUSINESS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION 1 New Business a. Introduction of New Beach and Natural Resources Superintendent Stacie announced that Russell Armstrong is the new superintendent. Russell thanked the Committee for all the kind words and looks forward to making the beach a place visitors want to come back to year after year. Russell explained that the "Natural Resources" is the Oso Bay Wetland Preserve for now but may include other preserves and nature parks in the future. b. Review of Committee Seats and Terms There was a question about expanding the seats on this Committee to include North Beach and/or Bay Beaches. Carrie had asked if we could remove the location (North Padre/Mustang Island)from the "Hotel/Condominium Owner" seat. Joe thought that it was important to have a Hotel/Condominium Owner and Paulette thought the Owner should be from an island establishment. Jennifer suggested that we could change an "At Large" seat to a North Beach/Bay Beach seat. Cliff felt that it was important to have both North Padre/Mustang Island and North Beach represented. It was decided that one of the "At Large" seats would be changed to a Bay Beach Hotel/Condominium Owner. Paulette made a motion to consider this change and Cliff seconded. All were in favor. Mukesh Subedee is the new member; he is an Environmentalist and he works at Harte Research Institute. All terms are 2 years now. Eric Angus' has completed the online application, he would like to have the Bay Beach Hotel/Condominium Owner seat. 2 Old Business a. ISAC Update Russell relayed that Beach Operations is grading the road in preparation for the new trash corrals; we are pulling all the sand off the seawall and grading the sand back in. Russell has been in touch with the Management Company/Property Owners of the vacant area next to Windward Parking Lot and they will be knocking down the extra sand on that property so that the wind doesn't blow the sand back onto the seawall. The seawall owners will maintain the seawall with blowers, then the City will take care of the sand from the 4th step down to the bottom. The GLO stated that it was ok to move the sand but not off their property or the beach. We are trying to keep the beach at a 3% grade. 2 Stacie wanted to know if the Committee wanted to setup another workshop with Deidra regarding maintenance practices causing sand to blow. A couple of dates will be proposed after Spring Break. It was suggested that maybe Greg Smith (Seawall Committee)would be interested in attending this workshop. Discussion to follow at the next meeting to determine list of invitees, and potential dates. The new trash barrels are being liked; ISAC & Surfriders like them. The trash trucks are going to City Council soon, hopefully by Spring Break. The Permit expires this year so it is time to amend the plan. The Surfriders Foundation won a one day ad campaign which will tie into the new trash system and be in time for Spring Break; it is an anti-trash message. ISAC has new officers; Libby is the new chair and the focus is of ISAC is the entire island. b. State Hotel Occupancy Tax Spending Plan Stacie handed out a "State HOT FUND Proposed Spending Plan" showing the breakdown for the $2.9 million. Stacie reported that the first payment should be coming January 28th. Part of the commitment for this money was that the City would bank/use 2/3 of the $2.9 for infrastructure improvement, shoreline protection and nourishment projects. 1/3 of the funds are for operational maintenance and safety programs at the Gulf and Bay beaches. Stacie explained the handouts; it is basically a 7 year plan and went through the sheets in detail. New funds may also be used to match CMP and CEPRA applications/projects. Carrie handed out 2 sheets with pictures of the parking lots at North Beach, they were covered with water. She was making an argument that this issue in North Beach was a Health and Safety concern. Stacie said that she would ask for some clarification on this and find out if this can be included in the future projects. Carrie mentioned potentially closing the parks if they could not be re-graded, or potentially build walkovers to still allow the public to access the beach. Paulette motioned that this Committee to support this proposed spending plan and Joe seconded it. A vote was taken and all were in favor. VI. STAFF LIASON REPORT 1. City Solid Waste Update Lawrence & Celina will be coming to the February meeting. They are starting a new campaign which will tie in with the Surfriders' campaign. Stacie will forward the email with the campaign graphics. 2. New Trash System Staff will keep this Committee posted on the progress of the new trash system; the barrels have been order and the trucks are an agenda item for the end of January. 3. Additional Staff Items Stacie handed out the changes made to the Fire ordinance. She asked the Sub-Committee to review the changes to make sure they were all correctly integrated and she is also sending a set of questions that Legal has for why the changes are requested. This will be discussed at the next meeting. Stacie will also be sending this to the Fire Marshall to look at. North Beach Nourishment Project had a bid dead line of 12/4/15. A Notice to Proceed is expected mid to late January. The contractor will determine the length of the project after the contractor is selected. The work will start at the south end and move north. Staff should get the word regarding the CEPRA grant for the re-nourishment of the Upper Padre Island Seawall the end of January. VII. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA 1. New Trash System Update 2. CEPRA grant for North Beach Erosion 3. City Solid Waste Update 4. Additional Staff Items 5. NBCA (North Beach Community Association) and "Light Up CC" updates 6. Set Deidra Williams' Workshop 7. Beach Operations Update 8. ISAC Update 9. North Beach Parks Update VIII. ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business, Cliff made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Joe seconded the motion. Meeting adjourned at 7:12 p.m. C:\Users\Tam era rWppdata\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\ZQFLP32G\010716 Minutes.Doc 3 Martha Lawhon, Management Assistant C:\Users\Tam era rWppdata\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\ZQFLP32G\010716 Minutes.Doc