Packery Channel Restoration Still on Hold
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Inside the Moon Sandcastle Run A2 Biz Briefs A3 Stuff I Heard A5 Fishing A11 Issue 894 The 27° 37' 0.5952'' N | 97° 13' 21.4068'' W Island Free The voiceMoon of The Island since 1996 June 3, 2021 Weekly www.islandmoon.com FREE Photo by Evelyn Pless-Schuberth Around The Island Memorial Day From the Air Return By Dale Rankin The consensus among long-time of the Islanders seems to be that we have never seen as many people on our beaches as we saw last weekend. When the weather broke the crowds Litter turned out in a hurry and the driving conditions on the beach south of Beach Access Road 6 meant that very few beachgoers to could make their Critter! View Sunday looking north toward Newport Pass way down there. For a while Sunday View from Newport Pass looking south, Packery The return of the long-gone Litter afternoon the beach there looked from Packery Channel. Channel Jetties are at the top of the photo. Critter is at hand! like a used car lot as a long line of vehicles were stuck in the soft sand. The inability of drivers to use that part of the beach pushed everyone north packing the beaches there. There have been ongoing discussions for years about removing vehicles from the beach along the Michael J. Ellis Seawall but last weekend there would have been nowhere to park them except on Windward. There The City of Corpus Christi is renewed talk at city hall about announced Wednesday that The the need for a beach renourishment Critter will arrive on Padre Island on project to widen the beach but the Saturday, June 5 and to Flour Bluff problem is that the consultants hired July 10. The hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. by the city say there is not enough The Island location is the parking lot beach quality sand left in the bottom adjacent to the Packery Channel Boat of Packery Channel for the job. View looking south from Packery Channel on Sunday. Notice how the beach narrows in front of the ramps at the corner of Zahn Road and Rumor control Michael J. Ellis Seawall. Photos courtesy of Michael Wyatt of Wyatt Productions. State Highway 361. Saturday, June 5. 9 a.m.-3 p.m. The beach in front of the seawall was Packery Channel Boat Ramp parking in fact blocked to traffic last weekend lot. due to the width of the beach falling below the required 150 feet. Traffic The Litter Critter accepts brush, cones were placed on the beach just Packery Channel bulky items, household trash, north of the seawall parking lot and appliances, tires and metals. It does the lot had adequate space for the not accept chemicals and concrete. vehicles belonging to people who walked to the beach. However, we’ve Restoration Still on Hold had several inquiries and/or opinions here that the narrowness of the beach Funding uncertain as Hurricane Season 2021 begins is due to the canal under the new View Water Exchange Bridge. That could By Dale Rankin be a working theory except for one The Island is now into the fourth fact; there is no canal under the new hurricane season since Hurricane From a Water Exchange Bridge. The hole that Harvey destroyed the Packery Jetties is there is filled with ground water with no funding source for repairs and no water is flowing into it from nor design for their rebuilding. Lake Padre nor from the west side. Stearman Here is the view from the Boeing The beach is narrow due to erosion According to information presented Stearman biplane that buzzed Padre and high tides. It’s been going on to the Island Strategic Action Island on Monday. Jason Towns is since Packery was dredged in 2004 Committee in the past two months the pilot and the plane is based in Port and the sand placed on the beach. It is the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Aransas. a dynamic system but the narrowness has notified the City of Corpus of the beach is not related to the Christi that the federal agency will building of the unfinished canal. not fund the estimated $15-$20 million in repairs needed to repair Towing at Island boat ramps the jetties and add improvements that would prevent its destruction in Large sections of the South Jetty sidewalk have collapsed into the future storms. water. More photos by Dale Rankin on A4. According to the ISAC information in April the city was awaiting FEMA which catches property tax revenue undermined the structure causing it funding for sidewalk repairs and a from new construction inside the to collapse in several area. A vertical funding determination memorandum TIRZ boundaries after 2003. TIRZ sheet piling that was included in on whether the agency will fund #2 is scheduled to expire at the end of the original plans for the jetties work to restore the channel. 2022 and would have to be extended that would have sunk 15 feet below Typically FEMA funds 80 percent in order to float bonds to pay for the grade on the water side of the jetties of projects with the remaining 20 city’s share of the repairs. was designed to prevent water from flowing under the structure. However, percent coming from local sources. The jetties were damaged by rushing that feature was removed from plans One possibility for the local water during Hurricane Harvey during the original jetty construction matching funds is from the Island’s pushed by offshore winds which Tax Increment Refinancing Zone #2 due to cost restraints. In spite of the warning signs at Island boat ramps boat owners continue to park their empty trailers in the parking lots there only to A little Island history return to find them towed. PIPOA workers towed away six vehicles and seven trailers which lacked the How Likely Is a June Hurricane on The Island? r required sticker identifying the owners as members of the A History of Island Hurricanes for the Month of June PIPOA which has sold almost 1200 By Dale Rankin of the stickers in the past year. For newcomers, the canals, bulkheads, The longest gap between storms and boat ramps (including parking on the Texas coast is 15 years lots) are owned and maintained by from 1886 to 1902. Texas’ storms PIPOA members. Those little round have traditionally hit in the early blue stickers you see Around The or late part of the season with the Island are not there to get residents most frequent months on the Texas back on The Island after a hurricane; Coast being August and September. they won’t work for that. They are But what about in June? Since to identify dues-paying PIPOA 1960, only eight Atlantic basin members who solely have the right to hurricanes have formed in June park in the lots. Under an agreement or earlier. That’s an average of with the Coast Guard that dates back one every 6.25 years; but Tropical to the early 1980s the public can use Storms in June are not as rare. the canals and the ramps but cannot The last June hurricane was park in the lots; they must park on the Allison in 1995. It reached street. History cont. on A4 Say hello if you see us Around The Seawall damage after Hurricane Allen. Island. June 3, 2021 Island Moon A 2 Brent Chesney's Annual Sandcastle Run at Padre Balli Park Photos by Debbie Noble June 5th Sing & Dance The Night away June 4th Share your talent for a chance to be FEATURED with Lauda and a $CASH$ prize!!! June 3, 2021 Island Moon A 3 Moon Monkeys Letters to the Mike Ellis, Founder Editor Did Ya' Hear? By Mary Craft | [email protected] Beachfront Bargain Hunt Renovation Show on HGTV did filming here last week for a show that will air in July. One of the scenes was jet skiing at the ski basin. Celebrity sightings in Port A in May - Quarterback Patrick Mahomes enjoyed fishing, Singer Josh Abbott and his wife were on the Red Pirate Cruise and someone said they spotted Distribution Ellen Degeneres. Pete Alsop The 73rd Annual Island Delivery Shrimporee in Aransas Coldwell Banker Pass will begin at 6 pm on Advertising Filming at Ski basin photo Friday, June 11th and end From Our Facebook Page courtesy of Port A H2O Jet Sunday, June 13th at 6 pm. Jan Park Rankin There will be bands playing Classifieds Ski SUP kayak kiteboarding on two stages during all Arlene Ritley On the Rocks wake surfing. hours with Kevin Fowler on Production Manager Marsha Baxter: Friday at 10 pm. There will be a carnival and lots of food vendors. Admission is $7. Abigail Bair I love the Caribbean! Contributing Writers Hardknocks has sold their Everhart location which will Went to Tulum several years ago with a group Joey Farah become All Star Sports Bar & Grill and are looking at another and was stopped by a policeman on the way in town location near Staples and SPID, Andy Purvis out. He said we were speeding (how do you Mary Craft prove you weren’t?) and told us he was taking There is a 2.3 acre property for sale for $850K at 15849 Emily Gaines the whole vanful of people to jail unless we SPID that is between Seashore Learning Center and the storage center between Esplanade and Seapines. Jay Gardner wanted to pay the “traffic fine” to him right Singer Josh Abbott aboard Red Dragon Cruises Pastor Kris Bair there.