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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee - 04/05/2018 WATERSHORE AND BEACH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Regular Called Meeting, Thursday,April 5, 2018 5:30 pm Staff Conference Room, City Hall 1201 Leopard Street, Corpus Christi, TX Members Present Members Absent Staff Present Cliff Schlabach Mukesh Subedee Josh Wentworth Terry Palmer Daniel Mazoch Darren Gurley Phillippe Tissot Martha Lawhon Jennifer Pollack Carrie Robertson Meyer Jyoti Patel Meredith Darden I. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 5:30 pm. II. ROLL CALL The roll was called and a quorum was present. III. ADOPTION OF MINUTES Minutes from the March 1, 2018 meeting were distributed for review and approval. Terry made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, Carrie seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. IV. HEAR FROM THE PUBLIC There was no one from the public in attendance. V. BUSINESS FOR DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE ACTION 1 New Business a. Oso Bay Foot Path Jerry relayed that at the last meeting he reported on the capital improvement list and the unfunded projects; this foot path was included on the unfunded list. To fund this project the way the City would want to, it is estimated to cost $5 million and to do the very basic the estimate would be $1 million with grant help. Jerry relayed that the only way to get this path is to put it on a bond and the public has to want the path on the bond. Cliff relayed that at the ISAC meeting this project was discussed and that committee liked the idea. Jerry would like a recommendation from WBAC to include this project on the 2018 Bond. The public has been surveyed about what they want for the parks and the most common answer is trails. WBAC recommends that the number 1 project on the Parks and Recreation unfunded list, be funded through the 2018 Bond or through whatever means available to support construction of the Ford's Foot Bridge at Oso Bay Wetlands Preserve as a funded Capital Improvement Project, project for Parks and Recreation. Terry made a motion to support this recommendation, Carrie seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. 2 Old Business a. Update: North Beach Offshore Islands Cliff was unable to attend the City Council meeting but he sent the WBAC recommendations and Greg Smith stood up on WBAC's behalf but was not successful. Carrie didn't think that the Council had done the final (second)vote. Darren said that the project was approved but that Council has not decided on the specific plan. 2 b. Update: Beach parking Permits Recommendation Darren passed out a sheet showing the revenues, actual and predicted, from permits sales for 2016, 2017 and 2018. It also showed the amounts sold per entity (Nueces County, Port Aransas & the City). Terry noted that an increase to $15 per sticker would be ok with him. Cliff also brought up this issue with the Surfriders and they also agree that $15 would be ok. The last increase was in 2001. Jyoti relayed that the last time a price increase was discussed, Port Aransas didn't agree. Darren reminded the group that all 3 entities must be in agreement in order for a price increase to happen. Cliff did the math and with an increase to $15 that would bring into the City another $200,000. Meredith is concerned with how the longer distance visitors will respond to the permits being $15; in their minds. She asked if there was every discussion of having a day or week pass and Darren relayed that the City would lose money by having those passes. Carrie added that there are 2 free beaches available; North Beach and Water's Edge. Terry made a motion that WBAC is agreeable to raise beach parking permit to $15.00, Jyoti second, unanimously approved. Motion passed. c. Update: Fire Regulations Cliff checked his notes and this item has been on WBAC's agenda since 2015! Cliff brought this up at the last ISAC meeting in hopes of "stirring" it up. Darren noted that he has been riding the beach and in his estimate it is not the fire pits that's the problem, it is all the other holes. He has spoken to Jay Ellington about changing this in the beach ordinances, not in the fire regulations. This would leave just the 100' distance issue at North Beach to be dealt with on the fire regulations. Carrie relayed that at the last Parking Advisory Committee meeting, they are also discussing this and their thoughts are not to allow bbgs at all; it would be easier than enforcing the distance issue and it is already on the sign. Meredith noted that she and the visitors' center discourage this activity on the bay beaches when they are asked. WBAC would like to recommend that there should be no fire pits between the property line and the beach walk on North Beach. The recommendations is "Bbq pits are only allowed on the water side of the beach walk at North Beach" Carrie made a motion to recommend this, Philippe second, unanimously approved. Motion passed. d. Update: Six Pack Projects Darren reported that he has a price for the shell, $78,000 but not for the foundation for the pavilion. This is for an open air wooden pavilion at the boat ramp. TIRZ has approved the money for the ADA mats and the ATONS but these items still need to go to Council. The experience Beach Operations is having with the mats at the mobile restrooms is that it is taking extra maintenance time to keep the sand off of them. Beach Operations is still working on the issue of vandalism with the solar restrooms. VI. PARK AND RECREATION ACTION COMMITTEE—Jerry Plemons • Jerry reported that the Parks and Recreation department is looking at a proposed budget cut of 1 to 6.5% because it is believed that there will be a $10 million shortfall in the general fund next year. The main reason for the shortfall is sales tax revenue; less spending locally. The mayor had said that he is not a supporter of Parks and Recreation so he will be looking at that department first. PRAC passed a resolution to request that Council earmark$10 million of the 2018 bond to Parks and Recreation; instead of the requested $4.37 million. PRAC also recommends a rededication of revenues; if a department generates revenues, those revenues would stay within that department. • Jerry is requesting from Jayjust where the revenue ($1.6 million)from the sale of parks is going. • Jay had a meeting with Dotson Lewis, the chair of PRAC and discussed, informally, changing the Parks and Recreation name to Beach, Parks and Recreation Department. VII. ISAC Report • Cliff and Terry attended the meeting. City HOT funds were discussed and Paula Kluge gave a presentation. She reported that revenues are up, mainly because of Spring break and many out of town contractors are still here. C:AUsers\NormaD2\AppData\Local\Temp\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-04_O5_2018_3816237\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-04_05 2018.doc 3 • It was reported that the cost estimate for repairing the Packery Channel would be $7 to 8 million and there are many steps before that can happen. Cliff passed around pictures of the channel; "it's really bad". We are waiting for FEMA help, they are looking at it. Cliff relayed how important FEMA's help was needed because there is only$13 million in TIRZs and they are still thinking about taking $4 million for the Park Road 22 Bridge. Cliff told ISAC that he thought repairing the Packery Channel should be the top priority. Philippe wanted to make the point that it is so important that the surveys continue because that provides proof of how the conditions were. FEMA even commented on how important the data was. • Access Road 2 is complete and 3A will be soon. Newport Pass and Access Road 3 are now the City's responsibility and specifically the Streets department. VIII. STAFF LIAISON REPORT • Josh reported that he has 13 vacancies out of 29 positions and 3 vacant temporary spots out of 10. He believes that the main reason for this is the pay rate. The jobs are continually posted and some interviewing has happened. • Spring Break—Josh reported that they picked up twice as much trash and Carrie noted how great North Beach looked. Jyoti reported that the Spring Break crowds were not what they were in the past but that the crowds were more spread out over several weeks. • Carrie wanted to know what was happening with enforcement on the bay beaches so Martha will ask Laura Jasso if she could attend the next meeting and give us a report. Josh did know that the position was posted and that the City only has 1 officer right now to work the whole City. Carrie also asked about the ATV and Darren told her that this was going to City Council next week. • Darren reported that he is also shorthanded; he is down 3 heavy equipment operators, 1 park tech II and soon, 1 enforcement officer. • There will be a fishing tournament at the boat ramp at the Packery Channel on the weekend of April 27th, it's a benefit for Autism. We are also starting to plan for our annual C.A.S.T. event which will be held on September 22nd, also at the Packery Channel. • We are working on the showers, there should be water at 3A soon. Cliff suggested that the showers could be closer to the jetties. IX. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA 1. Update: BBQ issue at North Beach: What's the process? 2. Supporting PRAC resolutions 3. Laura Jasso: Enforcement on Bay Beaches 4. Update: Beach Pits/Holes 5. Update: Six Pack Projects 6. North Beach Bath House Problem X. ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business the meeting adjourned at 7:17 pm. Martha Lawhon, Management Assistant C:AUsers\NormaD2\AppData\Local\Temp\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-04_O5_2018_3816237\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-04_05 2018.doc