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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee - 09/03/2020 WATERSHORE AND BEACH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Regular Called Meeting Thursday, September 3, 2020 5:30 pm WEBEX – Meeting Number: 146 746 3717 | Password; qhWAMhPP743 Join by phone: 1-408-418-9388 Members Present Members Absent Staff Present Terry Palmer Meredith Darden Philippe Tissot Larisa Ford Harrison McNeil Daniel Mazoch Lauren Williams Jyoti Patel Mukesh Subedee Joe Johnson Darren Gurley Martha Lawhon I. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 5:34 pm. ll. ROLL CALL The roll was called, and a quorum was present III. EXCUSED ABSENCES: None IV. ADOPTION OF MINUTES Minutes from the August 13, 2020 meeting were distributed for review. Harrison pointed out that in “New Business” 1b, it should be “50’ of the jetty” not lines. With that correction Harrison made a motion to accept the minutes, Meredith seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. V. HEAR FROM THE PUBLIC One person was in attendance and he spoke about several items: First he wanted to congratulate all involved in getting Zahn road redone. At a recent Surfrider meeting, several members had some observation to share with this committee. They wanted to know if reflectors could be added to the trash corrals, they wanted us to know that more trash bags at needed at Zahn, and that some of the speed limit signs are missing, and people are speeding. They wanted to know if the bollards and /or signs could be put back at the jetty, and that the sand is very soft at Newport Pass. Vl. BUSINESS FOR DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE ACTION 1 New Business a. Signage – City vs County Meredith had a “destination specialist” that accompanied her to the beach and had the following suggestions/ideas: develop better clarification for beach locations, install entering and leaving signs and have homogeneous signage for safety messages. Darren commented that regarding the homogeneous signs, “we do that now”. b. Findings: Vegetation line, mean high tide This is a contract, with the work to be done by the Blucher Institute, that is headed to the Commissioners Court, for the County. Currently there is drone work happening on the City beaches under a grant, and the emergency survey (for the Packery Channel) is going to City Council. c. Packery Jetties – Water seepage After Hurricane Laura, Terry noticed, on the northside of the jetty, that there was water surging under the sidewalk, and he is concerned that this situation is going to get worse. Where is the City in regards to FEMA and the committee would like Darren to report on it next meeting. Joe Johnson added that the problem is funding and that FEMA will not be paying. Joe will try to get a written statement from Jeff Edmonds, Engineering Director for the next meeting. d. Closed Beaches – Parking hazard 2 C:\Users\NormaD2\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Outlook\18Z4XUQT\September.doc There was much discussion of the hazards of parking when the beaches are closed to vehicle traffic and the access roads are closed. Visitors were parking on the highway when entering Access Road 2, and once the access road filled with cars on Access 3, those visitors were also parking on the highway. Darren believes that this would probably not happen again, and that this decision was not made by Beach Operations. e. Gulf beach lifeguards Terry was on the beach when the recent fatality happened and he wanted to acknowledge and thank the lifeguards, and Harrison agrees! It was a sad situation and the lifeguards acted professionally and did what they could. This situation was also discussed at the Surfriders meeting, they wanted to know what could be done to prevent this in the future. Darren stated that he thought the beaches should have been closed, but didn’t have the authority to do that, but did sent out a “reverse alert” regarding the rip currents. Harrison noted that surfers, surf at their own risk. Darren did state that if the beach is open, the lif eguards must be on the beach, it’s our responsibility! Cliff would like an update from the County Judge for the next meeting regarding beach closures. The City mayor can close the City beaches but not the others on the island. 2. Old Business VlI. PARK AND RECREATION ACTION COMMITTEE – Jerry Plemons Jerry did not attend this meeting. VlII. ISAC Report Terry and Darren both attended parts of this meeting. Most of the talk was of the strategic management plan for the island. Terry will send the meeting notes to all the WBAC members. There was also talk of Bob Hall Pier and a possible $13 million repair/rebuilt price tag, the offshore oil rig that had an issue with escaping natural gas and the repairs for Zahn road. lX. STAFF LIAISON REPORT Darren reported that the Gulf beaches were hit hard by Hurricane Hanna and they had not recovered from that hurricane before Laura struck, bringing 2.5” of more sand! Darren started (cleaning) with Whitecap and the plan was to move north as beaches got completed. On Saturday, most of the access roads and beaches were impassable but as the week went on more got done. Beach Operations were kept on the clock to assist with the work. Darren believes that it will take 1 to 1.5 years to get back to pre-Hanna conditions. Zahn road is open (works for now) and will be over the weekend. Permits will be sold! Reflectors are on the trash cans; some might be missing. Whitecap will be one way over the holiday weekend, enter on Whitecap Blvd. and exit on Access road 4 or 5. The replacement jetty light is in but the question is how to install it; the bullnose is gone. North Beach is getting a small amount of sand that was lost with Hurricane Harvey from FEMA. X. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA 1. Signage – City vs County 2. Packery Jetties – Water seepage 3. North Beach parking lots 4. Cleaning up the jetties – Fishing line 5. Packery Channel & FEMA Xl. ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business the meeting adjourned at 6:58 pm.