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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee - 08/04/2016 WATERSHORE AND BEACH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Regular Called Meeting, Thursday,August 4, 2016 5:30 p.m. Staff Conference Room, City Hall 1201 Leopard Street, Corpus Christi, TX Members Present Members Absent Staff Present Cameron Perry Jennifer Pollack Russell Armstrong Jay Gardner Jyoti Patel Stacie Talbert Anaya Cliff Schlabach Joseph DePalma Josh Wentworth Carrie Robertson Meyer Paulette Kluge Martha Lawhon Mukesh Subedee 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 July 7, 2016 meeting were distributed for review and approval. Jay made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, Carrie seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. IV. HEAR FROM THE PUBLIC—Two people were present and only one wanted to speak. The person who spoke passed out information regarding properties in relationship to beach operations. She reported that Beach Operations has put up a barrier on the south side of the Packery Channel. This barrier restricts access to this area that is public property. When she spoke with the Beach Operation Supervisor she was told that the area behind the barrier was private property and that they were trying to keep drivers out of the dunes. She is requesting that this committee look at the legalities of the barrier and also the parameters of Beach Operations' discretion. V. BUSINESS FOR DISCUSSION/ACTION 1 New Business a. Spraying herbicides along street ROW; what is it? Cliff reported on this. The City has been spraying something around town, some herbicide. After many attempts to speak to someone about this, he was finally told that it was a non-selective herbicide; which means it kills everything. Most of the spraying has been on streets that have a curb and sidewalk. In some cases this curb to the sidewalk is as large as 6 to 8 feet. Some of this spraying has come in contact with some trees; killing leaves. Cliff did research on non-selective herbicides and found that basically there are 2 types and the common names are Reward and Roundup. Roundup is a known carcinogenic. Cliff would like to know if the City plans on continuing this spraying. Josh will investigate this issue. b. Beach parking and access on North Beach Carrie spoke of an idea that the North Beach Community Association had regarding parking that was originally presented to WBAC in 2014. At that time she was told that this idea had to go to the Parking Advisory Committee for approval and then to WBAC. 2 of the 3 most popular spots on North Beach have very small parking lots and have a water drainage issue. This situation has caused cars to park on private property. This situation works for now but may not when the owners decide to build. Many cars are now parking on the street but the streets are unlined and there is no ADA parking nor any emergency vehicle parking. The City does have 2 large parks on North Beach and the hope is that some of the area of these parks could be used for parking. The first phase of the project would be to get Beach and Burleson Avenues setup for street parking. Carrie thinks that maybe this could be a bond project. Cameron believes that this project/idea should be presented to the Streets Department and the Storm Water Department.WBAC could probably support this once it is more formalized. 2 c. RVs on the beach This is tabled until the next meeting. 2 Old Business a. ISAC Update • Jay reported that the public comment was mainly about the "South Loop" and where it would land. There is also an issue with abandoned sailboats, mostly south of Snoopys. Greg Smith gave a TWIA(Texas Windstorm Insurance Association) update; he had just returned from a meeting in Galveston and relayed that they are not going to raise rates. • There was talk of a "hike and bike" corridor at the newly acquired Nueces County parks land on Padre Island. • ISAC supported the plastic bag ban by 75%with the new language. • Jay Ellington asked ISAC to pass a resolution to fund the completion of the Park Road Bridge with 4 million from the Packery TIFF, which will expire in 2020. b. Update on Access Road 3A Russ shared handouts showing the 3A Access road construction plan. The plan is to have all the construction completed on 3A and 2 by Spring Break 2017. There will be no changes with Access Road 2's location, both 2 and 3A will be concrete roads. The proposal is that 3A will be open during construction; the traffic will be adjusted according to the work area, probably with a temporary traffic light at both ends. There are 2 plans for Access Road 2 during construction. The first would be to block off the road completely which would speed up the project and save some money which could be used to complete repairs on Zahn Road or do like they plan at 3A which would take twice as long to complete. The plan is to do both access roads at the same time. Cameron suggested that maybe for emergency purposes that the State Park access would be available, Russ will look into that. Cameron made the motion to support full closure of Access Road 2 pending construction occurring during off season months and leaving Access Road 3A open, Jay seconded. A vote was called and the motion was unanimously approved. Motion passed. c. Update on the plastic bag ban Cliff reported that this ban is still pending; still waiting for the decision of the Laredo court case before proceeding to bring it to the City Council. VI. STAFF LIASON REPORT 1. Law& Code Enforcement • Stacie reported that David Pierce has requested that Parks and Recreation look at how we can increase the effectiveness of enforcement on the beach. One of the issues that has contributed to the lack of enforcement is the lack of officers, especially on the beach. • Captain Donald Moore of BRAVO (Flour Bluff and the beaches)district told the committee that he was not sure about whether Code Enforcement could write tickets for driving in the dunes; but said he would look into it. He did inform us that BRAVO has the 2 busiest beats in the city and that the department is working on staffing issues and also on exactly what PD should and should not be writing tickets for. Stacie has had conversations with Chief Markel about working on monthly meeting and quarterly meeting with a larger group (PD, Code Enforcement and the Marina). The other issue with PD is that they have a rotation every six months but that PD will try to get the new assignees up to speed with what has be happening in their areas. Another big concern is the speeding on the beach. Stacie wondered if a speed sign would help; one of those that tells you how fast you are going. Carrie asked about littering and Capt. Moore reported that it is very difficult to ticket because it has to be witnessed. • There was a question about deputizing the life guards and most thought this was not a good idea because they are there to watch the people and activities in the water. • Russ relayed that while we did have the Code Enforcement Officers on the beach, people did slow down. Just having the presence of the Officers helped with the speeding problem. 2. Beach Signage • Stacie reported that they had been working with Paulette and the CVB on replacement signage for the Gulf& North Beaches so that they have some continuity. They are also working on getting a "No" sign together which would cover all the "no's" at the beach. This should be ready for presentation by the next meeting. Stacie also wanted to know from the committee "what are your thoughts about changing the beach access road signs". Right now the access road signs C:\Users\Tam era rWppdata\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\ZQFLP32G\080416 Minutes Finalfinal.Doc 3 are like the standard street sign. Cliff thinks that the access road names should not change because people know them as they are, most of the committee agreed. Once the signs are designed they will be presented to WBAC first and then ISAC. VII. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA 1. ISAC Update 2. Update on plastic bag ban 3. Spraying herbicide along street ROW; what is it? - Update 4. Vehicular access along the South Packery Channel jetty 5. RVs on the beach VIII. ADJOURNMENT Carrie had to leave for an appointment at 6:45 so the meeting was adjourned due to lack of quorum. Martha Lawhon, Management Assistant C:\Users\Tam era rWppdata\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\ZQFLP32G\080416 Minutes Finalfinal.Doc