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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore And Beach Advisory Committee - 12/03/2020 WATERSHORE AND BEACH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Regular Called Meeting Thursday, December 3, 2020 5:30 pm WEBEX – Meeting Number: 146 756 8799 | Password; NpUKSUdN343 Join by phone: 1-408-418-9388 Members Present Members Absent Staff Present Terry Palmer Larisa Ford Harrison McNeil Daniel Mazoch Jyoti Patel Mukesh Subedee Meredith Darden Philippe Tissot Lauren Williams Darren Gurley Martha Lawhon Howard Schauer Kevin Johnson I. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 5:35 pm. ll. ROLL CALL The roll was called, and a quorum was present III. EXCUSED ABSENCES: Daniel Mazoch Philippe made a motion to excuse last month’s absences, Meredith seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. IV. ADOPTION OF MINUTES Minutes from the November 5, 2020 meeting were distributed for review. Philippe made a motion to accept the minutes, Larisa seconded, unanimously approved except for Meredith, she abstained. Motion passed. V. HEAR FROM THE PUBLIC There was one person from the public in attendance: Cliff Schlabach. Cliff wanted an update on the showers, he wondered if the red flags (notification of surf conditions) were being used too much, and also that he was happy to be on a flag subcommittee. The new Assistant Director for Parks and Recreation, Kevin Johnson was in attendance, so Darren introduced him to the group. Vl. BUSINESS FOR DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE ACTION 1 New Business a. Presentation: Ship channel dredging by the Port of Corpus Christi Dan Koesema works with the Port Authority gave the group a presentation on the Channel Improvement Project. There is a series of channels within the channel system and Dan had slides for all of this. He went on to give the group some history of the channels. This project first started in 1926 when the depth of the channel was 25’. Since that time the channel has been deepen 5 times and now has a depth of 47’. The plan for the current project is too achieve a depth of 54’. The Port has gotten Congressional authorization for this current project which has 4 main elements and Dan explained each of them (I do have a copy of his presentation if anyone is interested in having it). Next Dan spoke about the phases of CIP (Channel Improvement Project); which one have already been awarded and the anticipated awards. Lastly, he spoke of “use” sites and placement areas and then he entertained questions from the group. b. Beach Maintenance Plan Darren relayed that he plans to revisit this after he gets his permits renewed and/or amended. The plan may be modified depending on the USACE permit. 2. Old Business a. City Lifeguard Program The subcommittee met on this and came up with a draft motion; it says: Given the importance of beach safety, the economic importance of our beaches and the effectiveness of lifeguards 2 C:\Users\NormaD2\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Outlook\C1K8JZ51\December.doc.docx to minimize the loss of life through rescues and active prevention, the City of Corpus Christi Watershore and Beach Advisory committee recommends that the City’s lifeguarding budget be increased to provide wage increases for returning lifeguards and those with the USLA certification to ensure that Corpus Christi employs the best lifeguards available. WBAC also would like to further encourage the City to conduct public education about beach safety. These recommendations aim to enhance rather than criticize the current lifeguarding program. Terry did present an idea of having a 2-tier system; returning or USLA lifeguards would get more pay than a lifeguard coming in as a “rookie”. What the subcommittee is trying to achieve it to raise the pay of the lifeguards and therefore increase quality and pride. Larisa made a motion to make this recommendation, Daniel seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. Darren did email the group a Gulf Beach Rescue Report; which showed 3 years’ worth of statics and shows that the program is headed in the right direction. b. Safety around the Packery Channel Terry noted that this is a continuing topic: closing the jetties. Darren says that the criteria should be determined by the wave height but also with a visual determination which he believes is very important. When this happens, the jetty would be blocked off at the water/tide line. Philippe believes that this subject would take a whole meeting to discuss and Darren says closing the beaches is done by city and/or county officials. c. Beach Flag Warning System This was discussed and it was decided that the lifeguards must go with the National standards. Darren relayed that the red flag means danger, doesn’t mean that you can’t go out in the water but to just change it to another color would not be safe. Cliff did mention using a dual flag system; Darren will investigate that. Larisa relayed that she had worked somewhere that used the double flag; one meaning high water and the other meant do not go in the water. Darren told the group that if he put up a sign at JP Luby that said, “do not go in the water”, they would string him up and ignore the sign! Philippe stated that “we should stay with the USLA standards” and he like the double flag idea. d. Signage – City vs County Meredith reported on this; there has been a little movement. The new CEO, Brett and Peter Zanoni met and are looking at not only changing the beach signs but also other City signage. Meredith did say this was 6 to 9 months out. e. Packery Jetties – Repairs Darren reported that USACE has this in “sight” and will working on the design, but this will not happen anytime soon. FEMA is looking to do the road, cable and sidewalk repairs. VlI. PARK AND RECREATION ACTION COMMITTEE – Howard Schauer Howard reported that there has not been a PRAC meeting since the last WBAC meeting. He did tell the group that he had attended a Jami Smith Foundation meeting and Linda Huffman, a warning coordinate with the local National Weather Service, was there. She is working on an algorithm that will help predict rip currents. The hope is that this would be valuable information to provide to all the local entities for their lifeguards. Howard also spoke of Spring Break, he said that a lot of the universities in Texas are taking 1 day or no days. He will keep on top of this and let WBAC know when there are updates. VlII. ISAC Report ISAC last met on the same night WBAC met in November and that happened again this month, so Terry relayed a few items from their November minutes. The Engineering update is; the design for the maintenance shed will take 6 months to complete and the plan is for it to be located on Commodore, update about beach showers, Packery Channel monitoring is being delayed. There was lots of talk about short term rentals, and the Padre Island development plan. lX. STAFF LIAISON REPORT Darren reported that Beach Operations is moving a lot of sand! He did tell the group that it would take months to get back to where the beaches were before the storms. It will take until March to finish moving the sand at Zahn Rd. 3 C:\Users\NormaD2\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Outlook\C1K8JZ51\December.doc.docx Engineering messed up the water line on Zahn for the showers. They are setting a meter and backflow unit right now at Zahn and Utilities will be hooking up the meter at Zahn this month and moving the meter at Access Rd 3A. The showers have been received at Operations, they are a pole with three heads and the pole will be set on concrete. These showers will be installed at Zahn and 3A. Currently Beach Operations only has one Park Tech, but Darren is interviewing next week for a couple more. The aluminum gates for the access roads are installed and will be used when the beach is closed. Three lifeguard stands are arriving Monday. When installed, they will be on raised up on a platform to avoid inundation of the wheels during high tides. Darren will report the beach parking permits numbers next meeting. X. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA 1. Annual Review Report 2. Select Officers 3. Beach Flag Warning System 4. Closing the Jetties 5. North Beach Update 6. Packery Channel Repair Xl. ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business the meeting adjourned at 6:56 pm.