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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Watershore and Beach Advisory Committee - 05/04/2023 w 1201 Leopard Street City of Corpus Christi td� y Corpus Christi,TX 78401 4� cctexas.com Meeting Minutes - Final Watershore and Beach Advisory Committee Thursday,May 4,2023 5:30 PM Staff Conference Room 1st Floor,City Hall. The City of Corpus Christi promotes participation regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability or political belief. Reasonable accommodation is provided upon request and in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. For assistance or to request a reasonable accommodation, contact (361) 826-3300 at least 48 hours in advance. Upon request, this information can be available in larger print and/or in electronic format. Present: 9- Chair Meredith Darden, Philippe Tissot, Harrison A. McNeil, Ruben Macias, Philip Blackmar,Armon D.Alex, David Zill, Larisa A. Ford, and Scott Lawson A. Call To Order B. Roll Call C. Public Comment There was no one from the public that wanted to speak. D. Approval of Minutes and Action on Absences Several members had corrections and or changes to the April minutes. We those changes Larisa made a motion to accept the minutes as amended, Ruben seconded, unanimously approved. E. Committee Reports 1. 23-0718 PRAC Report - Howard Schauer Howard reported on several items that did not pertain to WRAC. He did report that regarding the erosion response plan for the Bayfront parks, PRAC has not gotten a briefing and that was a major issue for them. He believes that this plan should have started with them (PRAC) and not come to them later in the process. Armon asked if there was any conversation about the bike report and Howard said yes and that he would send the minutes, from PRAC to Martha to email to the WBAC members. There was discussion regarding Howard thoughts that the plans should go to PRAC before WRAC. Meredith relayed that there is an email group of City committee chairs and she could relay to the chairs that they need to advocate for each other. City of Corpus Christi Page 1 Printed on 6/9/2023 Watershore and Beach Advisory Meeting Minutes -Final May 4,2023 Committee Kevin Johnson added that PRAC has been involved from the beginning. He asked that Howard email him with any questions he had but that PRAC has been kept in the loop. Howard responded by saying this was not the time nor the place for this discussion with Kevin. 2. 23-0719 ISAC Report Meredith reported that ISAC did not meet last month due to a power outage; she has no update. 3. 23-0722 BMAC Report - Cliff Schlabach Cliff reported that there was a large turnout at their last meeting. BMAC is currently reviewing 4 large applications for new construction. One involves the mitigation of a sand dune. A sand dune was destroyed and it has to be rebuilt in the exact proportion that it was; not an easy task. Mitigations must be approve by both the County and the GLO. Cliff reported to BMAC about the pending bills regarding beach access, the same ones he had told WBAC about last month. Darren asked if Cliff knew that there are new GLO rules coming out, he does. Darren was asked to email the new regulations, from the GLO, to the committee. F. Staff Reports Darren reported that the beach is getting ready for summer and lifeguards are still needed! He will have people at the job fair at Ray High School; "we attend every one they can". Usually he gets more pool guards than beach ones. The biggest issue is going to be if there are enough guards to cover North Beach. There was a discussion regarding wages. Meredith is going to do some research on compensation for lifeguards, to look at possibly making a recommendation to the city regarding lifeguard pay. Jet ski training is happening. All the senior guards are new this summer, in addition to the 3 current enforcement officers. A 4th enforcement officer is in the works. Operations is going well, they are short 1 position. They are getting the guard stands ready to be put on the beach. There was discussion about the status of the permit. G. Unfinished Business 5. 23-0724 Gulf Beach & Packery Channel Monitoring Sub-Committee Report Harrison had the final copy of the resolution, that was discussed at the last meeting, for all the committee members to sign barring any new discussion. Armon asked that the resolution be read one more time, Meredith obliged. Philip made a motion to approve this resolution, Ruben seconded, unanimously approved. The resolution was signed by all WBAC members. Howard requested to have a copy of the resolution to take to PRAC. 6. 22-1575 WBAC By-laws City of Corpus Christi Page 2 Printed on 6/9/2023 Watershore and Beach Advisory Meeting Minutes -Final May 4,2023 Committee Harrison explained that this item was pending the City secretary's office and is hung up because we opened the Chapter 10 amendments. Harrison would like to propose a change to the WBAC By-laws. His change is under "Article 2. Organization, Section C Duties of Officers", it would be an additional subsection, #5 which would have the following verbiage:"The Chair and/or Vice Chair will publicly represent the Committee for external communications. This includes but is not limited to media/news interviews, communications with elected officials or City staff, and or proactively requesting media coverage for committee meetings or business. When professional experience of a committee member would present expertise in publicly representing the Committee, the Chair and/or Vice-chair may approve, in writing, the instance of representation on a case-by-case basis". This would prevent those not named speaking on WBAC's behalf. Armon commented that this might be a free speech issue which sparked lots of conversations. This will be further discussed next meeting. 8. 23-0468 Possible preservation methods for restoration methods regarding the oil spill. Harrison told the group what the current status is and Armon relayed that the City is moving along with incorporating sustainable initiatives in the budgeting process.The subcommittee did not get a chance to meet, to discuss a resolution and do not feel it is still needed. Harrison made a motion to remove this item from the agenda. Flint Hills has been keeping the committee update through emails. Meredith called for the motion to remove this item, Philip did, Ruben seconded, all were in favor except Armon, he abstained. 4. 23-0526 Update on Erosion Response Plan for Bayfront Parks - By Kevin Johnson Meredith reported that there is not an update on this. Ruben made a motion to remove this agenda item until there is an update. After much discussion regarding this, Philippe seconded, unanimously approved. This will now be discussed under "Staff Reports". H. New Business for Discussion and Possible Action 7. 23-0240 Chapter 2 Amendments Sub-Committee Report The sub committee made up of Larisa, Armon and Philippe looked at the roles (categories) currently in place and proposed changes. The sub committee discussed the changes last meeting and are now wanting a vote to approve the changes. Philip wanted to speak about the engineer position, he believes that the engineer should be required to have a professional engineering license and a minimum of 5 years experience. Armon thought this would narrow the field of applicants too much, according to his discussion with the City Secretary. Meredith wanted to tweak the language "...owner or representative of a hotel or condominium...". WBAC currently does not have someone in that position. She believe that a short term rental property person would work. She will do some research on the best language there. Also she proposed that we change "preferred but not required" to "preferred and....", and then list the specific requirements. There much discussion on City of Corpus Christi Page 3 Printed on 6/9/2023 Watershore and Beach Advisory Meeting Minutes -Final May 4,2023 Committee what the "Environmentalist" is and/or does. 9. 23-0469 Capital improvement budgets Darren reported that he is not doing much this year regarding capital improvements, too much going on. The Zahn restrooms will roll into next year. The doors at the Windward Parking lot should be done this year. In his packet for next year is beach surveys, replacing some trucks, replace one of the beach buildings (at the beach yard), and work on the Surfside Park restrooms at North Beach. Currently he is working on replacing the hand rails at the JFK boat ramp and at Windward. Meredith asked if there were anything needed that WBAC could recommend and there is nothing currently. 10. 23-0470 Senate Bill 434 - Beach Access and Private Property Harrison, Philip and Armon got together and came up with a resolution, Philip read it to the committee. The resolution dealt with the bills that were an immediate threat, some of the others were thought to be somewhat vague and therefore not included. Cliff added his thoughts about the urgency of this resolution. Meredith called for a motion to approve the resolution, Ruben did, Philip seconded, unanimously approved. The resolution was then distributed for signatures. Philip or Philippe will present this to council. 11. 23-0725 Beach Budgets - Darren Gurley Darren has 9 operating budgets and none are being cut. Darren explained that he is in the unusual situation of having funds and not having immediate use for them. He has strict guidelines on what he can spend the funds on. The revenues are good. He spoke about the SHOT fund; how the funding is received and what he can and can't do with those funds. I. Future Agenda Items Unfinished business: WBAC By-laws & Chapter 2 Amendments Sub-Committee Report. New business: Resolution - Beach Rescue Pay J. Adjournment As there was no further business the meeting was adjourned at 7:22 pm. This meeting may be held via videoconference call pursuant to Texas Government Code § 551.127. If this meeting is held via videoconference call or other remote method of meeting, then a member of this governmental body presiding over this meeting will be physically present at the location of this meeting unless this meeting is held pursuant to Texas Government Code § 551.125 due to an emergency or other public necessity pursuant to Texas Government Code § 551.045. City of Corpus Christi Page 4 Printed on 6/9/2023