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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore and Beach Advisory Committee - 01/06/2022 WATERSHORE AND BEACH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING Regular Called Meeting Thursday, January 6, 2022, 5:30 pm First Floor Staff Conference Room City Hall, 1201 Leopard Street, Corpus Christi, TX 78401 WEBEX – Meeting Number: 2593 940 6216 | Password: c7JPCmkav49 Join by phone: 1-650-479-3208 Members Present Members Absent Staff Present Terry Palmer Meredith Darden Larisa Ford Bobby Hyatt Jyoti Patel Philippe Tissot Scott Lawson Harrison McNeil Ruben Macias Darren Gurley Martha Lawhon 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: None IV. ADOPTION OF MINUTES Minutes from the December 2, 2021 meeting were distributed for review. Meredith made a motion to accept the minutes, Larisa seconded, unanimously approved. Motion passed. V. HEAR from the Public Neil McQueen, from the Surfrider Foundation and has also serve on WBAC in the past, relayed an incident that happened on the beach last Saturday. It was a very warm day, and the beach was packed. There were many surfers in the water, some experienced, some not. The water was rough, 6 to 8’ waves. Neil ran into an inexperienced surfer in trouble and with the help of several others, got the surfer to the shore. He noted that there was not a lifeguard in sight the whole time until someone found one “down the beach in a truck”. He believes that if there had been a lifeguard on the jetty, and he believes that on days like this, there should be, that surfer would not have gotten into trouble or the guard would have seen what was happening and reacted. He wants the City to know how open they are to some serious liabilities; this inexperienced surfer could have died. He will email Terry his suggestions. Vl. BUSINESS FOR DISCUSSION/POSSIBLE ACTION 1 New Business a. Plan for Gulf beach and Packery Channel monitoring/beach management by City staff Meredith commented on this, she said she spoke with Andreas and was told that this issue is with Engineering & Neiman, Neiman confirmed that this is true. Diedre did do a shoreline position survey for Darren and will be presenting that next month. She did want the committee to know that all her survey will do is provide information about the width of the beach in front of the seawall. We need to know this so that Beach Operations knows if they can move sand. This will be allowed, depending on the width, when the approved permit is received. Meredith suggested that WBAC makes some recommendations regarding this plan/program, Harrison agrees. Deidre explained some of the background on this plan, the City had been proactive regarding this but now seem to only want to be reactive. Deidre did submit a proposal for the monitoring several months ago and the City has not acted upon it. Deidre believes that part the problem is the lack of understanding with the current City officials. Larisa thinks that WBAC should, after hearing Deidre’s presentation next month, make a recommendation to City Council. 2 C:\Users\NormaD2\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.Outlook\C1K8JZ51\January.doc b. Update on the Shoreline parks projects (Park Masterplan) by City staff Kevin has been very busy lately and has not had a chance to work on Deidre’s scope of work that she submitted to him. c. 2022 Annual Report Terry emailed a copy of the report that he put together based on what the committee worked on. He walked the group through each item. Meredith suggested that the group talk about the goals for 2022 for the new members present, Philippe would like “assess and mitigate erosion” added to the monitoring of the Bayside Parks. There was a suggestion for writing a letter of support to Kevin and the Chair of PRAC, letting them know that we support the monitoring of the Bayside Parks and would like it to happen in 2022. Howard will talk to PRAC, they meet next Wednesday. Terry will put a memo together and get it out before the next meeting. d. Hydrofoil Surfing Cliff reported on this. Some people that are doing this sport are doing it too close to people. He is sure that the fin on the board is very sharp, lots of safety issues. He would like this dealt with before Spring Break. He believes that this sport needs to be regulated. Cliff thinks that the ordinance for kiteboarding should also include hydrofoil surfing. Darren says that this will be covered when the ordinance is looked at. Meredith thought that signage might be the way to go, and Larisa agreed that while the ordinance is being review, messaging could be used. In Hawaii hydrofoil boards must be registered. The members will do some research on this sport and this issue will be revisited next month. 2. Old Business VlI. PARK AND RECREATION ACTION COMMITTEE – Howard Schauer Howard was in attendance, and he let the committee know that he will be discussing the issues (monitoring, bayside parks) that WBAC has spoken about with PRAC. There was a discussion about the Master plan and neither PRAC nor WBAC were invited. VIlI. ISAC Report Terry did not go and has not seen the minutes. There was not much discussed, mainly short-term rentals on the island. IX. BMAC Report – Cliff Schlabach Cliff reported that he and Deidre were reviewing a permit that want a 10’ wide boardwalk, just what he was worried about. They also are wanting a 1600’ pavilion built at beach level. This permit is for a large development, north of access 2. This committee would be concerned with the boardwalk and the pavilion, the other areas are outside their jurisdiction. Cliff has spoken with the GLO and they are working on regulations regarding this kind of developments. Deidre and Cliff are working on an outline for the rules that should be covered in the regulation because there are none right now. Darren suggested that they look into the “Beach Front Construction Certificate”. X. STAFF LIAISON REPORT The groundbreaking for the Packery Channel is tomorrow. Darren reported that beach operations has moved a large amount of sand from the Windward Parking Lot. Beach Operations is replacing all the beach marker signs. Darren discussed the fund in the SHOT fund; $13 million is in reserves. Of the amount $5 million is set aside for beach nourishment and the plan is to get new equipment, hire 2 more senior guards and hire 3 more Park Tech IIs. XI. IDENTIFY ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON NEXT AGENDA 1. Plans for Gulf beach and Packery Channel monitoring/beach management by City Staff 2. Update on the Shoreline parks projects (Parks Masterplan) by Kevin Johnson & Deidre Williams 3. Hydrofoil Surfing 4. Deidre Williams’ Presentation – Shoreline Survey 5. Lifeguarding XlI. ADJOURNMENT As there was no further business the meeting adjourned at 7:18 pm.