Council to vote on beach today

Council to vote on beach today

Groups voice opposition to limiting vehicle traffic

By Nick Nelson Caller-Times
December 20, 2005

As the City Council faces a vote today whether to take back its traffic ban for one Padre Island beach, local organizations have weighed in on how the council should proceed.

The issue has shaped up as a choice between a $500 million resort development and the right to drive motor vehicles on the beach. The pedestrian-only beach concept has been touted as a safety issue and vilified as an erosion of rights. The proposed development has been heralded as an engine for creating jobs and prosperity and attacked as a burden on the environment.

The council voted in mid-October to restrict traffic from 4,200 feet of beach in front of Padre Island's seawall. Early this month, Austin developer Paul Schexnailder announced that a major resort development company intends to build a resort just north of the newly restricted beach. He says the project is feasible only if that area, in addition to the 4,200 feet, is vehicle-free.

"The chamber view is that our city needs a sound and proactive policy that encourages private-sector investment that will result in creating new employment opportunities and grow our economy," said chamber President Terry Carter.

The Corpus Christi Association of Realtors last week signed a similar resolution. The Padre Island Business Association board is pushing for a pedestrian-only beach between Packery Channel and Padre Balli County Park - a distance of about 7,400 feet. In a letter sent out Monday, Councilman Mark Scott urged members of the Padre Island Business Association to attend today's council meeting.

"The real issue is about who is in charge in this community," the letter stated. "It is about whose voice the council hears. I believe the citizens in our community want to grow. They expect us to make appropriate decisions to move our city forward. However, (today) is one of those days where the council needs to see the community. We need to see you. We need to see our friends and supporters out in the audience."

The Texas Coastal Bend chapter of the Surfrider Foundation has formally opposed vehicular bans of any kind on local beaches and has rallied behind a petition drive to undo the October ordinance. Pat Suter, chairman of the Coastal Bend chapter of the Sierra Club, said her group had not formally voted on a position, though she had little doubt what the vote would be: "The Sierra Club has opposed unwise development on the islands from the very beginning."

Suter said most of the thousands who have signed the petition are not affiliated with any group but are simply upset by the council's October decision. She said she expected the council to vote down that ordinance today to make way for a new ordinance that would restrict traffic on more beach.

"If they come back with another one, we'll just petition it again," she said.

Beach information
# Today: City Council is scheduled to vote whether to rescind an October ordinance that banned vehicular traffic on 4,200 feet of beach along Padre Island’s seawall.
# When/where? 10 a.m., City Hall, 1201 Leopard St.
# Why now? Austin developer Paul Schexnailder says the $500 million resort is feasible only if additional beach is restricted. Councilman Mark Scott said the council erred in not accommodating the proposed resort.
# If the ordinance is rescinded: Council could consider a new ordinance restricting more beach to traffic.
City would have time to make a more effective beach access plan, city officials say.
A petition that local residents have been circulating since October would be null. Petition organizers say if the council passes a new ordinance with new restrictions, they will start a new petition.
On Monday, the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce passed a resolution urging the council to rescind the October ordinance, so that the council can establish the larger pedestrian-only beach, extending to the south Packery Channel jetty.