|
|
|
Packery.Com - Information source for the proposed Packery Channel Project...
|
|
|
|
A RECENT HISTORY OF PACKERY CHANNEL PROJECTS By: Hal Suter Well, once again like old Freddy in those old horror movies of the 1970s and 1980s, we are confronted with a thing that refuses to die. To wit, the current Packery Channel project. The latest proposal is to create something called a tax increment district in which the increase in property taxes within the district or zone will through the increases or increments will pay for the project. This is not a new scheme as these types
of districts or zones were once known as reinvestment zones, but this Is
merely the latest wrinkle on an attempt to pour old wine into a new
bottle. Attempts to dredge a pass to the Gulf of Mexico have been kicked around since the 1890s. After the construction of the Ship Channel in the 1920s, the desire became greater. Not being a hydrologist, I am somewhat unfamiliar with the terms, but in essence the ship channel at Port Aransas took all force or surge of the Nueces River, thus allowing what was then naturally open Packery Channel to silt over. Both before and after World War II there were numerous failed attempts to open another pass to the Gulf, but they all floundered on the realities of financing and the stark fact that without some sort of river flow to maintain the surge, the movement of sand through the passes quickly filled the passes with sand. These realities kept things quiet for a while. The impetus to reopen the pass controversy came not from a desire to improve fishing, but to enhance some real estate. In the late 1960s and early 1970s the development out on Padre Island as part of the development a boat pass was envisioned. The dream ran into a couple of high hurdles. The first was that the wash over pass, now J.P. Luby Surf Park, turned out not to be private property, but state land. This was established by a lawsuit from the Texas Attorney General Office and a subsequent settlement. The second was that under the Texas Open Beaches Act only a public entity could restrict public access to an open beach. Since a pass would cut off the publics ability to use that particular section of the beach, a pass could not be dredged by private interests. Those obstacles kept the dream dormant for a decade or so, but beginning in the mid 1980s, the project was revived by local businessman Ralph Durden who, in conjunction with a division of Westinghouse Corporation and some German investors, tried to jump start something called Lake Padre. A lake would be dug out in which homeowners and others could moor in a marina. From this marina they would then have access to the Gulf through a boat pass In order to broaden the support base for the project, it was additionally touted as a boon to recreational fishing; allegedly through salinity reduction in Laguna Madre and by "escapement", a scientific term meaning that critters could move back and forth between the Gulf and Laguna. Since that the project has been continually rebuffed, but like a doll with a round base, continually being able to bounce back. What follows is a sort of a year by year history of the on again, off again Packery Channel project.
PACKERY CHANNEL PROJECTS 1985 a good start for the project. In September the Corpus Christi City Council in a workshop session endorses the Lake Padre/Packery Channel project. Assured of local government support, the development begins to move forward. 1986 not so good a year. In the summer of 1986 the city council calls for an election to annex Mustang and Padre Islands. (At that time annexation had to be done by referendum, not by ordinance.) The idea was that once the area was within the city limits an tax increment district could be formed and the hurdles of financing and public agency requirements overcome. In August those plans were thrown a curve when a 3-1 margin voters rejected annexing the islands. The project has yet to recover from that setback. Later in the same year an attempt to organize a local district on Padre Island was discussed. Island residents were not enthusiastic about being the sole financiers of the project and the balloon never got off the ground. 1987 was a mixed year. A new tack was tried. A group of recreational fishermen called the Reopen Packery Channel Association (ROPC) tried to make the main emphasis not so much on real estate enhancement, but better fishing. Ralph Durden still had the support of the majority of the City Council and with one of those constant studies in hand which touted the economic benefits of the project, the council tried to move forward. The ROPC applied to the Army Corps of Engineers for a dredging permit and Durdens development received a preliminary go ahead from the Texas General Land Office. 1988 After being held up for some months due to the Endangered Species Act and the effect that a boat pass would have on the Piping Plover, in June the Corps of Engineers issued a dredging permit #18344. Since the ROPC could not dredge the pass itself, plans were made for the City of Corpus Christi to receive the transferred permit and get going with the project. 1989 was not a good year. The City Council passed an ordinance that included the dredging of Packery Channel in the master plan for Padre Island. This ordinance was petitioned by citizens opposed to the project. In a matter of weeks opponents acquired over 8300 signatures to force the ordinance to a vote. Having been burned in 1986, the proponents of the project and the council were reluctant to face the electorate and consequently the council repealed the ordinance. In the fall Ralph Durden came back with a plan very similar to what is being proposed today with tax increment financing. Under this plan, however, the entire residential area of Padre Island would be included. In addition, school districts which garnered the most tax revenue would be compelled to participate. The school districts were especially miffed because they thought that state legislation had exempted them from involuntary participation in these districts. Lo and behold, it was discovered that through fine print in the legislation, Corpus Christi had exempted itself from that provision. A firestorm of protest led by the school districts and residents on Padre Island developed. Led by the late Mary Rhodes, then a Councilwoman, the City Council did not go forward with the proposal. 1990-91 Following the debacle of 1989, Packery Channel moves to the back burner. In 1990 a proposal was advanced to raise the city sales tax rate ½ cent for "economic development". In internal memo of the proponents of the tax hike, the dredging of Packery Channel is one of the projects the additional $13 million of annual revenue could fund. Corpus Christi voters again prove perverse and in August of 1990 reject the tax hike by a 4-1 margin. In 1991 during the 72nd session of the Texas Legislature, American General Corporation attempts to have a local district created to finance a massive development on South padre Island. Potentially, this legislation might have been used in this area. However, the legislature led by the opposition of State Senator Carlos Truan also proves perverse and refuses to pass the legislation. In December of 1991, permit #18344 expires. 1992-94 The dredging permit remains expired until studies as to whether it will effect the Piping Plover are done in a manner that satisfies the various resource agencies. In August of 1994 the permit is renewed. 1995 In the fall of this year instead of the City Council, the Nueces County Commissioners Court grabs the ball. The dredging of Packery Channel would be coupled with the building of a fairgrounds in the western part of the county. A new study of the project is authorized. 1996 The new study to the tune of $600,000 goes forward. 1997 The study is completed. The Texas General Land Office more or less approves. Under the new plan the federal government is going to fund part of the project. U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson gets the senate to cough up $19.5 million. However, the legislation dies in the House of Representatives. In December of 1997 the permit again expires. 1998 Little is heard in the public about Packery Channel, but as subsequent events will show, plans are still afoot. 1999 Nueces County unveils a plan to combine dredging Packery Channel, building a fairgrounds in Robstown, and raising the JFK Causeway in a bond election. Despite large expenditure of funds by the proponents and heavy votes from Padre Island and Robstown, local voters remain perverse and reject the proposal by the margin of 54-46 percent. 2000 The motto of dredging proponents continues to be try, try, again. The City of Corpus Christi re-enters the picture with a plan to create a tax increment finance district or TIF in the Packery Channel area. According to city officials only the increase or increment of property value in the zone would back the issuance of bonds that in turn would not be backed by the city. Buoyed by the passage of several bond issues in the November general election the Corpus Christi City Council passes an ordinance creating the TIF in late November. Subsequently other local public entities join the newly created body. 2001-The ordinance creating the TIF is petitioned by a group of citizens who believe that after having a vote in 1999 it was not right to move forward without another vote from the public. To the surprise of conventional wisdom, the group Let Us Vote (LUV) Corpus Christi led by Betty and Chuck Spencer actually obtains enough signatures of registered voters to force a referendum on the ordinance in the April 7 city election. Regardless of the outcome of the pending referendum, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers final determination of the feasibility of the project according to federal government standards is still in limbo with the earliest possible determination being early 2002.
Copyright 2001 ©
Packery.Com all rights reserved |
