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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee - 06/02/2016 WATERSHORE AND BEACH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Regular Called Meeting, Thursday, June 2, 2016 5:30 p.m. Staff Conference Room, City Hall 1201 Leopard Street, Corpus Christi, TX Members Present Members Absent Staff Present Jay Gardner Cameron Perry Russell Armstrong Cliff Schlabach Paulette Kluge Martha Lawhon Joseph DePalma Mukesh Subedee Josh Wentworth Carrie Robertson Meyer Jennifer Pollack Jyoti Patel I. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 5:45 p.m. II. ROLL CALL The roll was called and a quorum was present. I. ADOPTION OF MINUTES Minutes from the May 5, 2016 meeting were distributed for review and approval. Cliff made a motion to accept them, Joe seconded, unanimously approved, motion passed. After accepting the minutes as presented Carrie made a motion to reopen the minutes and Cliff seconded that. Under"Staff Liaison Report" Carrie stated that NBCA"wanted an officer in an ATV", not"on foot". That change was noted and the minutes were approved as corrected. IV. HEAR FROM THE PUBLIC—Two people were present and only one wanted to speak. The person who spoke wanted us to know that he has been working on protecting our beach, especially the dunes for years. He says that he has spoken with many police officials and that most of the police force know nothing about Muni code 10-72 (Protecting Our Beaches) and other ordinances relating to the beach. His answer to this issue is to have a substation on the Padre Island with a dedicated force. He also believes that beach enforcement needs to be able to write citations. V. BUSINESS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION 1 New Business a. Resolution to support the plastic bag ban on Padre Island Cliff related that ISAC passed a resolution to ban plastic bags on the Island. The Surfriders visited 27 to 28 businesses on the Island and almost 90%were in favor of this ban. Cliff asked that this Committee pass a resolution in support of a plastic bag ban on Padre Island and Mustang Island. The City will be doing, or has done a report on whether this ban would pass or not and the thought is that it could pass. Also by passing this ban it would send a message to the surrounding cities. This ban would cover single use plastic bags. The ban in Port Aransas states that the replacement bags (brown bags) must be made with 40% recycled materials. Stripes would not like this as part of the ban because of the price. The best recommendation is for people to bring their own bags. WBAC recommends that the City Council pass a plastic bag ban for Padre Island and Mustang Island. Cliff called for a vote; all were in favor, unanimously approved. b. Report on the Texas Beach Watch Procedures Josh reported the he and several other supervisors from Parks and Recreation have registered to receive the Texas GLO Beach Watch updates that are sent out. Once a report is read that person has 4 hours to go out and change signs as needed. Sometimes this might be overnight because the individual might not see the email at 3:30 when clocking out. Carrie stated that she believes that sometimes the sign are not corrected when conditions change. Josh reported that he is working with the sign department for a better way to handle the signs. Josh told Carrie that she could email him if the signs needed to be changed. These signs are also on the Island at all the access roads to the beach. 2 c. McGee Beach Update Russ reported that we have 2 lifeguard stands there and one lifeguard truck and that three lifeguards are on duty from 12 to 6 daily, seven days a week from "now until Labor Day". The flag system is up and running. Josh reported that we are interviewing for another maintenance person. We are still hiring lifeguards. Russ discussed the lifeguard situation on the Island; there are 2 stands at North Packery and 3 stands at the South Packery. There is one lifeguard truck on the north side of the Packery, 1 on the south side and 1 truck that patrols the north end of the beach and south of Access Road 6. Carrie told the committee that when North Beach Community Association was asked if they wanted lifeguards or park enforcement, they asked for park enforcement. Had they (NBCA members) known that they were getting a part time enforcement officer they would have asked for lifeguards, she feels that North Beach has been slighted. Josh explained that his understanding of North Beach was that the officer would spend 90 to 95% of the time there and that they are looking into getting a bike patrol. d. Excused absences versus unexcused Committee members are allowed 2 unexcused absences per year. Excused absences are given when there is advanced notice that you are not able to attend a meeting. The committee would have the final say on excused versus unexcused and decide on a case by case bases. 2 Old Business a. ISAC Update There has not been a meeting since the last update. b. Update on the State HOT Funds and how they affect North Beach Carrie reported that North Beach hotels contribute $400,000 to the State and $800,000 to the City annually to HOT Funds and that North Beach has received nothing back to date. Josh reported that the City has some additional maintenance funding for North Beach. There are 4 new positions for maintenance and that interviews will be held next week. He also said that he will be investigating salary savings to address those flooded parking lots first. Also he will be looking at more trash containers and repairing/maintaining the structures on the beach. Carrie suggested that instead of fixing the low-lying flooded parking lots maybe the City should look at improving street parking, as it is higher and stays dry. Jyoti noted that the businesses also need to be involved; she has done work at her place (The Radisson) but there is much more to do. Carrie relayed that about half of the new beach appears to be gone due to recent high tides and high winds. Carrie also wanted to say that the enforcement officer on North Beach should use an ATV, not a bike, as he will need to drive on both the beach and the Beachwalk. A mountain bike would be restricted to the Beachwalk, which is often crowded with pedestrians and parts of it can get very sandy. VI. STAFF LIASON REPORT • Russell reported that there are 2 open enforcement positions, one from the HOT Funds and that posting just recently closed. The previous Gulf Beach enforcement officer had mistakenly thought that she could not write tickets but that issue has been resolved and the officer will be able to issue tickets. With these 2 officers there will be more coverage for the beach; longer hours and 7 days a week. • We are still trying to fill 9 lifeguard positions. McGee will have coverage from noon to 6 and on the Gulf Beach we will have lifeguards from 10 am to 8pm on the weekends (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). • Building &Grounds positions are still 4 short but interviews were conducted yesterday and there are 4 good candidates. These additional people will allow for double trash pickup on the heavy/holiday weekends. • We made an offer to someone yesterday for the Permit Parking Coordinator position. • We will be adding more trash corrals on the north side of Packery and the trash trucks are to be ready later this month. On the existing corrals (south side)we are installing a means to hold extra beach trash bags. • We are working on the Skid-O-Kan issue. • Flags are up at the Gulf Beach entrance shows the current water conditions, with instructions to what each color means. We also recently received flyers and "teepees" (a folded table top ad) detailing hazards at the beach and in the water; permit sellers are giving flyers out along with trash bags. C:\Users\Tam era rWppdata\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\ZQFLP32G\060216 Minutes CM Edit Final.Docx 3 • The Splash event is this Sunday. It is being held on the North Packery and the event organizers met with Beach Operations and the hope is that this years' event will be more respectful of the beach. • Cliff wanted it noted that Beach Operations is doing a great job. In the past no one from the beach really cared about these meetings but now the lines of communications are great and very much appreciated. VII. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA 1. Update on Access Road 3A 2. Update on the State HOT Funds and how they affect North Beach 3. ISAC Update 4. Contact CCPD regarding code enforcement and a potential for a workshop 5. Update on plastic bag ban VIII. ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business, Cliff made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Joe seconded the motion. Meeting adjourned at 6:49 p.m. Martha Lawhon, Management Assistant C:\Users\Tam era rWppdata\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\ZQFLP32G\060216 Minutes CM Edit Final.Docx