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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee - 05/03/2018 WATERSHORE AND BEACH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Regular Called Meeting, Thursday, May 3, 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 Jennifer Pollack Darren Gurley Phillippe Tissot Martha Lawhon Daniel Mazoch 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 April 5, 2018 meeting were distributed for review and approval. Phillippe made a motion to accept the minutes as presented, Meredith 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. Support PRAC Resolutions Resolution 1: The current amount for the 2018 Proposed Bond is $2.5m, this is for capital improvements for the parks. Jerry relayed that all this money would just be a "band aid"; none of this money is for any new projects and none of it is for water shore or beach projects. PRAC wants City Council to know that $2.5m is not enough and they would like $10m. Resolution 2: PRAC want the department that generates the revenues be able to keep those revenues. Right now the Parks and Recreations department gets 11 or 17 cents on each dollar and the rest goes to the general fund. This information was relayed to the Mayor and he suggested that "we become self-sufficient"; if we could make $9m then we should be able to raise another$8m and then be self-sufficient". Jay Ellington thinks that the most we can raise is $9m. Jerry would like WBAC to recommend these 2 resolutions. Phillippe wanted to know the past bond amounts and Carrie looked up 2012 bond which was $16m. Phillippe made a motion to recommend PRAC's resolution #1: Increase the 2018 bond for Parks and Recreation, Jyoti seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. Regarding resolution 2; it was asked what would make up the general fund if the departments did not contribute and the answer is property taxes. Cliff is concerned with this resolution causing fees to increase and upsetting the public. According to Jay, Corpus Christi's fees are lower than others. Carrie suggested that taxes could be raised but Cliff says the current mayor will not do that. Cliff made a motion to support Resolution 2, Carrie seconded, approved. Motion passed. Resolution 3: This is information only; WBAC has already agreed with this. Cliff spoke with Greg Smith and he was going to check with Port Aransas to see what they are thinking and will let this committee know what they think. 2 b. Laura Jasso: Update on the Bay Beaches and Enforcement Laura Gonzalez Jasso with Cultural Services and Special Events is now over seeing the beach and park compliance officers. She has 3 officers under her and is going to update this committee on the status of those officers. The enforcement positions have been posted and are now closed. There were 8 candidates and they are currently being interviewed. 2 of the open positions are in the general fund and the other is in SHOT fund. She is hoping to have these officers in action by June. All new compliance officer start at the same step. The 1 position in Bay Beach Enforcement (SHOT) will cover North Beach, McGee Beach and Water's Edge. Jyoti wanted to stress that North Beach needs to have someone on duty 7 days a week, during the summer. Carrie relayed information that she and Stacie Talbert discussed specific needs for North Beach, with regards to the SHOT fund in 2015 and that need was for enforcement. In a different presentation, also from Stacie, there was some confusion over some of the information. One slide stated that there would be a dedicated enforcement officer on North Beach but another slide showed the dollars were budgeted in the Bay Beach Park Enforcement division. The discussion continued around when, why and how the officers are assigned and the answer is that it is based on need. Park Compliance could also be used if needed, Laura would make that decision. Darren did let the group know that North Beach will have a dedicated ATV. The committee members thanked Laura for coming. c. North Beach Bath House Problem Cliff handed out a description of the WBAC duties but said that he did not want to discuss this tonight but wanted everyone to have it for the next meeting. This item will be put on the June agenda for discussion. 2 Old Business a. Update: Beach Pit/Holes Darren noted that the problem is not fire pits but is all the other pits. He witnessed many beach visitors digging holes for various reasons. Darren is going to add the following wording to the Gulf Beach Maintenance ordinance. "It shall be required to fill all holes dug on the Gulf Beach prior to leaving the area. To include, but not limited to fire pits, mound areas, sand castles areas, etc.". This will be difficult to enforce but enforcement and beach operations have been instructed to tell anyone digging a hole to please fill it in when they are finished. b. Update: Six Pack Projects Darren is trying to get the ADA mats order so that they can be installed at the Packery jetties. TIRZ has agreed to pay for them but it has not gone to City Council yet. Darren is still working on the ATONs. The goal is to use $65,000 for the blinking lights at the end of the channel. The issue that Darren is dealing with is that the Coast Guards say that the channel is non navigable, basically it like the agencies don't talk to each other. Darren is just going to get the lights and install them along with the other missing signs and poles. With regards to the pavilion: Darren is trying to include the pavilion with the maintenance building project. There is now a water line from 3A to the beach but now permission is needed from the Dunes Committee to run it on the beach. The shower will be at South Packery. VI. PARK AND RECREATION ACTION COMMITTEE—Jerry Plemons • Jerry reported that PRAC will be discussing the bath house situation at North Beach also. He did mention that Captain Royal, the police officer for Delta was there and Jerry will be asking him questions. • Regarding Water's Edge: Texas A& M with a construction company will be installing volleyball courts; professional grade! The "Islander" logo will be displayed on the courts. There is also talk of installing a helicopter pad; which would be used to take the public on rides. • The parks department want a dog park on North Padre Island, at the end of Whitecap but the Padre Island Yacht Club also wants that land. • PRAC likes the idea of only allowing BBQs on the water side of the beachwalk at North Beach. C:AUsers\NormaD2\AppData\Local\Temp\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-05_03_2018_3859341\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-05_03 2018.doc 3 VII. ISAC Report • Cliff reported that the meeting was over in 45 minutes! ISAC members are impressed with the WBAC reports and the amount of subjects that we cover. Cliff handed out information about the appropriations for the Packery Channel projects; the TIRZ. ISAC discussed the RESTORE Act (the Federal act that was funded by the Deep Water Horizon incident) and a couple of the projects were mentioned, like extending the Packery Channel jetties and a new pier. • The last items discussed were the preliminary report with the repair cost to the Packery Channel at $7.6 to $8m and the Park Road 22 Bridge. VIII. STAFF LIAISON REPORT • Darren reported that all is well at the beach. The solar restrooms are not being locked and so far, so good. • PRAC is already working on the BBQ issue at North Beach; Jerry will try to get them to do a resolution and then WBAC can support it. • Josh spoke of the new stairs down to the seawall at Water's Edge. He also reported that the Cole Park pier had to be closed because it was unsafe. The City is hoping to do a temporary repair so that it can be opened while a permanent plan is made. RESTORE funds might be available. Josh noted that they are still working on getting funds for Dimmitt pier in Flour Bluff. IX. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA 1. Details on SHOT Funds 2. Duties of WBAC 3. North Beach Bath House Problem 4. Update: Beach Pits/Holes 5. Update: Six Pack Projects X. ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business the meeting adjourned at 7:25 pm. Martha Lawhon, Management Assistant C:AUsers\NormaD2\AppData\Local\Temp\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-05_03_2018_3859341\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-05_03 2018.doc