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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes City Council - 10/12/2004 - JointI HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing is a true and correct copy of the minutes of the Joint Meeting of the Corpus Christi City Council of October 12, 2004, which were approved by the City Council on October 26, 2004. WITNESSETH MY HAND AND SEAL, on this the 26th day of October 2004. Armando Chapa City Secretary SEAL MINUTES CITY OF CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS MEETING OF THE CORPUS CHRISTI CITY COUNCIL AND THE PORT OF CORPUS CHRISTI AUTHORITY COMMISSION October 12, 2004 - 1:25 p.m. CITY COUNCIL Mayor Samuel L. Neal Jr. Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Noyola Brent Chesney Javier Colmenero Melody Cooper Henry Garrett Bill Kelly Rex A. Kinnison Mark Scott City Staff Present City Manager George K. Noe City Attorney Mary Kay Fischer City Secretary Armando Chapa PORT COMMISSION AND STAFF Ruben Bonilla, Chairman Bernard Paulson Robert Gonzalez Mike Carrell Judy Hawley John LaRue, Executive Director Robert "Jake" Jacobi, Deputy Director Frank Brogan, Director of Engineering Services Mayor Neal called the meeting to order in the Sixth Floor Conference Room at City Hall. City Secretary Chapa announced that a quorum of the Council was present to conduct the meeting and the meeting was properly posted. Mayor Neal welcomed the Port Board of Directors and staff. Chairman Bonilla introduced Mr. Frank Brogan, Director of Engineering for the Port, to update the Council on a number of major port projects. Mr. Brogan reported on the Joe Fulton International Trade Corridor project. He said the $55 million project would provide improved road and rail access to facilities on the north side of the inner harbor. The proposed project would result in a two-lane road with one continuous left turn lane. In addition, he said a substantial portion of land would be developed between the Tule Lift Bridge and Viola Turning Basin. He said the project was a national high priority, and was included in the MPO regional plan. The corridor was also included in the National Highway System (NHS). Mr. Brogan stated the total cost of the Fulton Corridor project was $55 million, 54 percent of which would be funded by the Port of Corpus Christi. The remaining funding would be obtained through various federal, state, and local sources. Mr. Kelly asked if the port was planning to close the Tule Lake Lift Bridge, a city -owned bridge, as part of the Fulton Corridor project. Mr. LaRue replied affirmatively, saying the plan was to close the bridge in 2008 and take it out of service. Mr. Kelly asked if the port had informed the neighborhood about these plans, because he felt this decision would be controversial. Mr. LaRue Minutes - Joint Council Meeting October 12, 2004 - Page 2 replied the plan was to reroute traffic to the intersection of Carbon Plant Road and I-37 to provide alternate access. Mr. Kelly reiterated this decision would be controversial to the neighborhood, and said their concerns needed to be addressed. Mr. Brogan reported on the Channel Improvement Project. He said one of the biggest advantages of the Port of Corpus Christi was its proximity to deep water, more than any other port on the Gulf of Mexico, which reduced the length of the channel. He said the plan was to deepen the channel from -45 feet MLT to -52 feet MLT and to widen the channel from 400 feet to 530 feet. The main benefits to the channel improvements were to allow larger ships to pass through it; to increase safety by better separating traffic with new barge shelves; and to reduce channel congestion by creating two lanes of traffic. The total cost of the project was approximately $200 million. Mr. Brogan reported on a number of port security improvements. The Port of Corpus Christi had been awarded $15,900,778 in grant funding for a total of $19,270,239 in improvements. He listed the grants as follows: Grant 1 - Strategic Docks ($2.2 million); Grant 2 - Hazardous Docks - $3.89 million; Grant 2 - La Quinta ($283,406); Grant 3 - Harbor Island ($1.24 million); Grant 3 - Access Control - $2 million); Grant 4 - Hazardous Docks ($2.12 million); VTIS ($3.6 million); and Texas Homeland Security ($500,000). Mr. Brogan described a number of improvements to the Port Security Center. The center would be processing new port identification cards, which would be color -coded based on access and security levels. The port security center watch room was equipped with a 3-D Graphical Users Interface, which allowed security to zoom into any particular area of the port and spin 360 degrees around it. In addition, he said high mast lighting, security fencing, and infra -red cameras were installed. Mr. Brogan discussed the progress on the Vessel Traffic Information System (VTIS). He said for the last 70 years, the port primarily communicated with vessels on a ringband radio or by sight. The new system would provide the following services: identify vessel particulars; track location of vessels; improve safety and efficiency of vessel movements; and provide important information to Coast Guard and Port for security purposes. Mr. Brogan said the project would be funded with $3.6 million in federal funds, and was anticipated to be operational in Spring 2005. Mr. Brogan reported on the new water taxi landing on the east side of the Ortiz Center, scheduled for completion in July 2005. He said the new site would provide citizens with another parking option. Mr. Brogan discussed the baseball stadium parking lot plan. He said the Port Board of Directors approved a $3.1 million contract to build more parking spaces. The plan included adding 2,200 parking spaces south of the baseball stadium and on the west side. He said the additional parking would also help the Ortiz Center, which was experiencing a dramatic reduction in parking spaces due to the Harbor Bridge project. Minutes - Joint Council Meeting October 12, 2004 - Page 3 Mr. Brogan reported on the Harbor Bridge Replacement project. He said the bridge was put into service on October 23, 1959. The current bridge had 138 feet of clearance, while most current bridges had between 175 to 185 feet of clearance. The recommended height for the new bridge would provide 200 feet of clearance. The new bridge would be located approximately 3,000 feet west of the existing bridge, and would start at the Crosstown/I-37 interchange, continue north, and line up almost perfectly with Hwy. 181 going across Nueces Bay. The benefit to moving the bridge over was that it nearly doubled the amount of land available for development in the downtown area. In addition, he said a six -lane parkway could be created on I-37 to provide access to the baseball stadium and arena areas. Finally, he said the project was scheduled for completion between 2015 to 2020. Mr. Brogan reported on the Tule Lake Lift Bridge project. He said the bridge cost approximately $1 million to maintain, and the Port was taking out a $1.5 million emergency contract to replace an inoperable portion. He said the bridge presented a number of vertical limitations for the Port, and was also a choke point in traffic. Mr. Brogan reported on the La Quinta Trade Gateway project. He said the project would provide the following elements: modern container terminal; good highway and rail connections; increasing container traffic; and save transportation costs. He said the Port was working with a number of proposed customers and looking at a number of financing options. The gateway presented a tremendous opportunity to take advantage of the container traffic going to Houston on Hwy. 181. Mr. Kelly asked if the Port had received any definite commitments. Mr. Robert Jacobi, deputy director of the port, replied negatively, but said the port was visiting a number of large shippers such as Home Depot to inform them about the future development. Mr. Brogan discussed the Veracruz cruise ferry project. He said the Port Board of Directors signed a Letter of Intent with the operator of this project. The plan was to operate the ferry out of the Ortiz Center with one to two trips planned per week from Corpus Christi, TX to Veracruz, Mexico. The maximum passenger capacity was 1,000 passengers per trip. Mr. Jacobi emphasized the cruise ferry was a ferry boat, not a cruise ship, with cruise -like amenities, such as entertainment, casinos, bars and restaurants. He said the trip would take approximately 30 hours. The economic impact of the cruise ferry operation could be up to $6 to $7 million per year. This number could rise to $10 to $15 million when it included the impact of Mexican visitors, potentially staying in the city for two to three days. In response to Mr. Scott's question, Mr. Jacobi said the cost for a roundtrip ticket would be approximately $350, plus $50 to $60 for food. By contrast, the average airfare cost was approximately $800. Mr. Brogan reported on the proposed LNG (liquid natural gas) terminal sites project. He said the project would consist of offshore LNG fabrication yards and onshore receiving terminals. Regarding the LNG onshore terminal at LaQuinta Channel, he said South Texas was particularly well-suited for this type of development for a number of reasons. First, he said there was a dwindling supply of domestic gas in the area. There was already a large natural gas pipeline network in place, however, from when the South Texas used to send domestic gas to the central and Minutes - Joint Council Meeting October 12, 2004 - Page 4 northeastern United States. The LNG project could fill those pipelines with natural gas to send to these areas. Second, the industrial plants in the area use a large amount of natural gas, so they will be major consumers for the product. Third, the industrial plants in the area generate waste heat as part of their manufacturing process. They currently use water cooling towers to cool down their plants. By contrast, the LNG plants generate waste cold which they could transfer to the industrial plants to cool down their plants. This would result in substantial savings in water use and conservation for the plants. Regarding the offshore terminal construction at Harbor Island, Mr. Brogan reported these artificial islands wer complex construction jobs costing $1 billion each. In conclusion, he said the Port considered the LNG facilities a tremendous opportunity to stabilize gas prices in the area and to serve as a major revenue source. Finally, Mr. Brogan provided an update on military cargo going through the Port from January 22, 2003 through September 2004. He said 53 ships had been loaded and unloaded, and 33,216 pieces of equipment had been handled using 7,693 railcars and 2,947 trucks. He said the Port of Corpus Christi handled the most military ships of any U.S. port, and they expect eight more ships by the end of 2004. Commissioner Paulson asked about the city's transportation plan for the area. Mr. Noe replied the city actually had two plans in place, one to cover the period before the baseball stadium opened, and the period after it opened. Before the stadium opened, he said the plan was to offer shuttle service and area parking at no charge to allow citizens to become familiar with the services. After the stadium opened, however, the shuttle service and area parking would require a fee for service. Mr. LaRue added the Port would not offer free parking either. Mr. LaRue updated the Council on improvements to the military cargo effort. He said the Port needed funds to improve their unloading equipment. The Port had applied for a state grant to provide an additional $4.5 million in funding toward the effort. Commissioner Hawley stated the city needed to improve their rail construction as well. She asked the Council to lobby the state to provide more funding for this effort. Mayor Neal added the South Texas Military Task Force had made an official request to Governor Perry to approve the additional funding. Commissioner Hawley also asked the Council to attend the Transportation Corridor Environmental Study hearing scheduled from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 19. She said San Patricio County and Nueces County were not included in the study, and she asked the Council to advocate for their inclusion. Mayor Neal thanked the Port of Corpus Christi Board of Directors and staff for attending the meeting today. He said the city needed to work closely with the Port during the BRAC process to emphasize the importance of the LNG facilities to the strategic importance of the area. There being no further business, Mayor Neal adjourned the meeting at 2:25 p.m. on October 12, 2004.