Pinkertons~"demonstrate initiative and investigate"

Entities would have appreciated more notice
By Jaime Powell and David Kassabian Caller-Times
December 17, 2006







Nueces County officials say their plan to implement Texas' strictest beach development limit was no secret. They voted twice in public meetings more than a year ago, and they say it's not their fault opponents didn't know until a month ago.

Corpus Christi and Port Aransas city officials, landowners and developers say they were not asked for their opinions on this issue and received no warning about an issue in which they are stakeholders. Several said they'd have appreciated a courtesy call.

The Commissioners Court's first vote to restrict development to 350 feet from the beach vegetation line - 150 feet farther inland than the rest of the state - was July 13, 2005.

Here's how the pending vote was announced in the meeting agenda, listed as Item No. 7: "Discuss and consider authorizing staff to proceed with implementation of amendments to the Nueces County Beach Management Plan for stricter criminal penalties for crimes on the Beaches of Nueces County, including but not limited to littering."

Item No. 7 passed unanimously.

The next unanimous vote, on Dec. 7, 2005, was preceded by the following agenda item: "Discuss and consider proposed amendments to the Nueces County Beach Management Plan."

No supplemental written material further explaining those two agenda items is available. The county maintains one binder of supplemental material as reference for agenda items, open to the public but used mostly by county staff and news media, said Tyner Little, executive assistant to County Judge Terry Shamsie. That material is destroyed a few days after a meeting, Little said.

The Corpus Christi city staff and Corpus Christi Independent School District distribute and maintain extensive background materials with City Council and school board meeting agendas, including several copies distributed to news media.

In August, the county sent the plan to the Texas General Land Office for approval. The state agency published a notice Nov. 10, 2006, in the Texas Register seeking public comment. The Texas Register catalogs state agency rulemaking, gubernatorial appointments, attorney general opinions and miscellaneous documents such as requests for proposals.

"Everybody has been notified because it has been talked about in a public meeting and published in the Texas Register," said Jennifer Smith-Engle, the county's dune consultant and a professor of environmental science at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

City officials say the Texas Register isn't on the average citizen's reading list.

County Commissioner Chuck Cazalas, whose precinct includes the county's beaches, requested the agenda items and was responsible for the wording, according to Little.

Cazalas offers no apologies for the wording, or for not notifying Corpus Christi or Port Aransas city officials. Dune protection is the county's responsibility, Cazalas said.

The city of Corpus Christi has permitting responsibility for everything except dune permitting, including beachfront construction permits. The county's proposed 350-foot setback plan could override the city's building permit authority and beachfront construction authority within that 350-foot area.

According to the state land office, this would be the only place along the Texas Gulf coast where a county overrides municipal authority for construction on barrier islands.

Cazalas said the two cities could have found out more information on their own.

"I don't think it is incumbent upon the government to spoon-feed people," Cazalas said. "Rather, people have got to demonstrate initiative and investigate, much the same way that they vote when they go to the polls. If they want additional detail, it should be asked.

"This has been out and been published and posted. It is not a surprise to most people. At least, I don't think it is."

Count the top officials at City Hall and several landowners and developers among the uninformed.

"We heard about it from Port Aransas, not the county," said Tom Utter, special assistant to City Manager Skip Noe. Utter couldn't recall the day, but it was in November, he said.

"When you are brother and sister governmental organizations and you are doing something that will significantly impact the other," Utter said, "it is only good form to work together and keep each other notified."

Port Aransas officials had heard rumblings about it for more than a year but did not investigate further because they thought their sovereignty over their beaches was safe, said City Manager Michael Kovacs. Unlike the City of Corpus Christi, which has shared permitting authority with the county, Port Aransas for more than a decade has been responsible for its own dune protection and building permitting.

At a public meeting Nov. 20 in Port Aransas, the county's dune advisory committee pushed to rescind Port Aransas' dune authority. Port Aransas residents and officials attended the meeting and made clear they were against it, so the county withdrew the request, Port Aransas officials said.

Kovacs said he called Corpus Christi officials to alert them. He didn't recall whether he placed the call before or after the Nov. 20 meeting.

"Before, we would not have been affected, but we became worried when the county beach and dune committee started considering taking over all of the county," Kovacs said. "That's when we called the City of Corpus Christi and said we had a problem."

City staff doesn't make a practice of monitoring Commissioners Court meetings, Utter said.

"We don't think we ought to have to watch the county. The county is us," he said. "The Commissioners Court and the city councils to a large degree represent the same folks. It's terrible when you disagree with yourself."

Cazalas said many property owners affected by the proposed change may not find out they cannot develop portions of their land until they apply for a dune permit.

Port Aransas real estate agent Travis Mangum said he wished someone had told him.

He sank nearly $650,000 of his savings into two waterfront lots in an upscale Mustang Island development. When he tried to sell one recently, he said he got a rude awakening when he learned from the county that both of his lots fall within the 350-foot setback area.

"About 45 days ago when I went to sell the lot, the deal fell through," he said. "The buyer was not going to buy a lot for well over $500,000 that he could not get a dune permit on."

If the rule passes, Mangum is stuck with two expensive parcels of land that can't be developed.

"Today if I want to build a house I cannot do it," he said. "It's worthless."

Contact Jaime Powell at 886-3716 or powellj@ caller.com