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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore and Beach Advisory Committee - 11/04/2021 WATERSHORE AND BEACH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Regular Called Meeting Wednesday, November 4, 2021 5:30 pm WEBEX – Meeting Number: 2485 401 5831 | Password: r3pPhCZg4t4 Join by phone: 1-408-418-9388 Members Present Members Absent Staff Present Terry Palmer Meredith Darden Larisa Ford Daniel Mazoch Jyoti Patel Philippe Tissot Scott Lawson Harrison McNeil Mukesh Subedee Kevin Johnson Darren Gurley Martha Lawhon I. CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 5:37 pm. ll. ROLL CALL The roll was called, and a quorum was present III. EXCUSED ABSENCES: None IV. ADOPTION OF MINUTES Minutes from the October 7, 2021 meeting were distributed for review. Larisa made a motion to accept the minutes, Daniel seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. V. HEAR FROM THE PUBLIC One person was in attendance and she had nothing to say, at this time. Vl. BUSINESS FOR DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE ACTION 1 New Business a. Plan for Gulf beach and Packery Channel monitoring/beach management by City staff No update yet, maybe for December’s meeting. b. Update on the Bay-side parks projects (Parks Masterplan) by City Staff Kevin Johnson, Assistant Director, Parks and Recreation gave a presentation on this. His presentation dealt with the master plan for the parks on Padre Island. Kevin didn’t realize that we were only interested in the shoreline parks. He did mention that he had spoken with Deidre about these parks and the erosion problem. Kevin did report to the committee that there is a long-term plan for several of the shoreline parks and the estimate cost for the plan will be about 8.6 million. Kevin then presented his report. There was an assessment done on the conditions of each park and that information then provided a ranking for each park. The weighted average (in total) for the Island Parks was 3.26 with 0 being the worst and 5 being the best. Kevin then looked closer at each of the parks on the Island. Kevin did tell the committee that at Commodore park he wants to put in a “sand boat”, a large boat filled with sand that the kids could play in. There was a discussion about the shoreline parks and how to preserve some of the old structures while making improvements. Terry asked if Kevin would please do the same assessments on the shoreline parks for the next meeting, Kevin agreed. Philippe wanted to know if there were numbers on the visitors to the shoreline parks and Meredith said that she could get some numbers. 2. Old Business VlI. PARK AND RECREATION ACTION COMMITTEE – Howard Schauer Howard was not in attendance. Kevin did add that PRAC has been talking about what to do with the sand from dredging event at the Marina. He was going to talk to Darren about it, but Darren says the sand from the Marina would not work for the Gulf beaches. Deidre spoke of some news 2 C:\Users\NormaD2\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Outlook\C1K8JZ51\November.doc that she heard; a piece of equipment that might be able to take dredged sand and separate out the undesired sand. The “good” sand might be able to be used elsewhere. I. ISAC Report Darren attended; they spoke about short term rentals, and how Code Enforcement was going to enforce short term rentals and other code issues. It was a short meeting. IX. BMAC Report – Cliff Schlabach There was an interesting case about a developer that wanted to replace a boardwalk to the beach. They wanted to widen the boardwalk to 8’ so that it would accommodate a golf cart. They claimed that while removing and installing the boardwalk, they would not disturb the environment! Everyone has lots of questions, including the GLO. The committee decided to hold off voting until they got some answers. Deidre added that one of the big problems with this issue is that allowances have been made in the past, precedence has been set. She and Cliff feel very challenged working in this situation where the rules are so loose. Darren asked that if this rebuilding is happening on the Gulf beaches, that the building stops at the new line of vegetation. Darren is going to meet with Cliff and Deidre to discuss the matter later. X. STAFF LIAISON REPORT Darren reported that beach operations is mainly working on little stuff; upgraded sign positioning, moving the gates on the jetty (closer to the water end), and getting jetty lights replaced. Darren needs to get into the channel to see what day boards are missing. Terry asked about the speeding issue and Darren reported that the area where the speeding is happening is privately owned and those owners need to put up signs. He has signs posted on the bridge pilings and is going to put up a couple more on the north side of the channel. Meredith is going to speak to the owners of the boat and jet ski rental company at Marker 37, apparently that business might be a big part of the problem. The beaches are good, still working on getting sand moved. The permit for the beach maintenance has final passed Fish and Wildlife. Beach rescue is getting 2 new jet skis. Darren is working on the interlocal agreement for beach rescue to lifeguard at Bob Hall pier. Darren has been instructed to be the City representative at the ISAC meetings. The next WBAC meeting will be held at the beach office. XI. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA 1. Masterplan update regarding the water shore parks. 2. Gulf Beach and Packery Channel Monitoring/beach management by City Staff. 3. Update regarding the boardwalks. 4. Not for next month but maybe February or March; have an orientation for the new members, revisit what issues we should be discussing and what the City staff wants from WBAC members. 5. Revisit our goals. XlI. ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business the meeting adjourned at 6:57 pm.