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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee - 10/03/2019 WATERSHORE AND BEACH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Regular Called Meeting Thursday, October 3, 2019 5:30 pm First Floor Staff Conference Room City Hall, 1201 Leopard Street, Corpus Christi, TX 78401 Members Present Members Absent Staff Present Cliff Schlabach Carrie Robertson Meyer Josh Wentworth Philippe Tissot Meredith Darden Darren Gurley Daniel Mazoch Terry Palmer Ashley Rioux Lauren Williams Jyoti Patel Mukesh Subedee Meredith Darden I. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 5:30 pm. II. EXCUSED ABSENCES: Terry Palmer& Daniel Mazoch Jyoti made a motion to excuse last month's absences, Mukesh seconded, unanimously approved. III. ROLL CALL The roll was called, and a quorum was present. IV. ADOPTION OF MINUTES Minutes from the September 5, 2019 meeting were distributed for review. Jyoti made a motion to accept the minutes, Lauren seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. V. HEAR FROM THE PUBLIC There was no one from the public. VI. BUSINESS FOR DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE ACTION 1 New Business a. Deidre Williams: July survey results Deidre did a presentation and discussed the findings from this survey. This was the first survey done this year and it was an abbreviated one. She discussed some about the peaks and shoals which is important for navigation (Darren has had makers placed in shallow areas) and the lack of sand for reclamation. The channel is not shoaling as rapidly as anticipated; in the 13-year study it is now known that the channel is not filling at a rate that can match the rate of erosion. The rate of distribution and where the peaks are forming is changing, some of this is natural with the changing seasons and some happened as a result of Hurricane Harvey. The survey revealed good news but not with regards to nourishing the beach. There is not enough of a push to get the sand out of the channel; it is stock piling behind the entrance. Next Deidre showed many slides showing the history of what has been happening with the channel. The strange thing is that the channel is essentially back where it was before Harvey; 2 years ago! Bottom line is that there is not enough sand for nourishment. 200,000 to 300,000 cubic yards of sand are available but actual, in the past, 65% of that sand that was available, was actual reclaimed due to various reasons. Deidre moved on to speak of the issue with the bollards on the beach and the beach width. Darren is working, or trying to, work with the GLO. Deidre explained that this is an important discussion, mainly for safety reasons. All the bollard talk is temporary until we get the right solution. What we must do is work with the limitations we have until there is a better solution. Deidre did point out that Darren has been working very hard on this sand issue and the program would be way behind if it were not for Darren! 2 b. Beach Parking Permits Jerry presented a motion to raise the price of these permits to $15. He will be presenting this to PRAC and he would like WBAC to also recommend this motion. The motion is: The Watershore and Beach Advisory Committee hereby advises Parks and Recreation director Jermel Stevenson via this motion requesting action on beach parking fee for Gulf beaches. We are requesting that the current beach parking fee of$12 be raised to $15 effective 2021 calendar year. Whereas it is the belief of this committee that the current fee of$12 does not adequately represent reasonable fee pricing in direct comparison to other beach areas. Whereas this committee strongly believes the fee increase of $3 will not place any undue hardship on beachgoers or have any negative affect on tourism in relation to possible gains from additional revenue. Therefore, we ask that director Jermel Stevenson start actions with relevant entities within the city of Corpus Christi, the county of Nueces, and the city of Port Aransas to have the beach access fee raised in time for the 2021 calendar year. And that WBAC be updated by Director Stevenson on the status of this advisement at a regular basis at our monthly meetings. Philippe made a motion to recommend this fee increase, Jyoti seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. c. Boardwalk at Lively Beach Resort Mike McCutcheon did a presentation on the resort at Lively Beach. The existing buildings will be coming online in March and the others, hopefully by May. Mike explained that with the help of other organization (i.e. Parks &Wildlife)they are vegetating the wetlands they have created. They are building on 11 acres, and hopefully about 100 units, all rentals. The reason Mike is here is to figure out a way to get the boardwalk to the beach. Mike explained, that he was told, forestacking is the placement of sand in front of the dunes and that dunes are vegetated mounds of sand; very subjective! According to the GLO Lively beach resorts can go to the "line of vegetation". This is not a clear line at this point because the property has not been tended to in years and vegetation is growing all the time in the dunes. The county will be the ones to say yes or no, Beach Operations/the City would be in charge of the front construction certificate. Darren did say that if/when he gets the permit to move the sand laterally, that he could help with the situation. d. Reverse Alerts for Rip Currents Darren reported that some City and the County departments (EOC, CCFD & ESD#2)sat down together and decided that when the National Weather Service publishes "coastal floods with high or extreme rip current risk", the reverse alert will happen. 2. Old Business a. Update: Vessel Operations, Section 10-66 Darren is still waiting to hear back from legal. b. Update: Camping, Section 10-66 Keith Selman, assistant City Manager knows about this and says that it doesn't need to go to Council,just needs the City Manager to agree. c. Update: City County Agreement (including lifeguards) Darren has not heard anything about the beach cleaning/maintenance, but they want the lifeguards. d. Update: North Beach Nourishment Darren reported that the City doesn't have to pay anything, FEMA and the GLO will take care of it. e. Update: Packery Channel: USACE Permit (Moving Sand) This goes to City Council on the 29th to hire the engineer; this includes the Packery Channel dredging. VII. PARK AND RECREATION ACTION COMMITTEE—Jerry Plemons Jerry reported that there are 2 items that PRAC is working on: Blucher Park and the proposed budget which is estimated to be $33.8 million. PRAC also spoke about reducing the number of department committees, there are currently 13 and they would like to reduce that to 5. One more item discussed was a better rip current alert. VIII. ISAC Report Cliff reported that there is not much to report; mostly they talked about Island stuff. C:AUsers\NormaD2\AppData\Local\Temp\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-10_03_2019_4644502\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-10_03 2019.doc 3 IX. STAFF LIAISON REPORT Josh reported that as far as Cole Park and Dimmit piers are concerned; the city has applied for 3 grants though engineering. Dimmit Pier can be repaired with bond funds, but Cole Park Pier is beyond repair; it will need to be demolished and re-built. Josh also reported that they are working on small projects at North Beach, the off-season schedule. Darren reported that the water line is installed on the beach, but the back flow has not been installed so the water is not on. Zahn Road and Newport Pass are going out to bid soon; they will be re-built, with a water line! Darren reported that he had heard back from the GLO and they are not on board. The ordinance needs to changed or the bollards need to be moved. The safety ring enclosures are in but have not been installed yet. X. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA 1. Cliff: Narrative on the existing ordinances and GLO 2. Update: Rip Currents XI. ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business the meeting adjourned at 7:36 pm. C:AUsers\NormaD2\AppData\Local\Temp\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-10_03_2019_4644502\Minutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee-10_03 2019.doc