Bob Hall Pier to Be Torn Down
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Inside the Moon Coyotes A2 Grand Opening A6 4H Cleanup A7 Humming Birds A14 Issue 855 27° 37' 0.5952'' N | 97° 13' 21.4068'' W Photo Courtesy of the Texas The Women Anglers Tournament Island Free The voiceMoon of The Island since 1996 September 3, 2020 Weekly www.islandmoon.com FREE Around The Judge Allows Island Construction By Dale Rankin What a week it has been Around to Continue on The Island. The 115 heat index we sweltered through early was relieved Palmira Houses by the winds that brought in the sound and odor of an offshore gas well that Case expected to go came roaring in Tuesday morning. When we woke up on our little to trial but no sandbar Tuesday we all ran outside to see what kind of jet was taking off date set only to find our way to the beach and By Dale Rankin see mist blasting out of a platform After a contencious eight-hour two miles offshore. According hearing a judge on Friday dissolved to records at the Texas Railroad a Temporary Restraining order which Commission the well makes 75 had stopped construction on five barrels of condensate per day along houses on Palmira Avenue clearing with 400 barrels of water. Specialists the way work to resume. in fighting petroleum fires were called and preparation made to fly Island resident them to the chopper pad located on The offshore gas well that provided a soundtrack for The Island on Tuesday had its say and stopped and pro-se attorney the rig. But after all day Tuesday the roaring by Wednesday morning. Photo by Jon Brandt. Karon Connolly well petered out and as of this writing who lives directly on Wednesday only five percent as behind one of much discharge is flowing out. The the houses in Texas Commission on Environmental question filed a Quality and the Texas General Land lawsuit claiming Office are still monitoring the site to Bob Hall Pier to be that houses with Judge Stephen see if there was any water pollution concrete stem Williams. but for the most part the incident is foundations that over. It came in with a bang and went rise six feet above out with a whimper. Torn Down grade violate rules in the Coquina Bay Subdivision where the houses The Labor Day weekend will be are located and that the Architectural the first in a while in which all area Cracks in support columns Compliance Committee, an arm of beaches are open and curfews lifted. Between the COVID scare and two Palmira cont. on A4 hurricanes passing through some $13.4 million to rebuild or all of our beaches have been in various stages of shutdown for weeks By Dale Rankin but everything is back up and running City of Port for the holiday. Forty year-old Bob Hall Pier will have to be torn down and rebuilt after Aransas and Hotel occupancy on The Island has damaged from Hurricane Hanna tore been hovering around the 50 percent off the T-shaped structure at the end Port of Corpus level in recent weeks but the 35,000 of the pier and damaged the support vehicles that have been finding their pilings to the point that they cannot Christi Settle way over the JFK Causeway on be repaired, according to information recent weekends will likely top the presented to the Island Strategic 70,000 range this weekend. Action Committee on Tuesday. over Harbor Water Exchange Bridge Nueces County’s ISAC Ex-Officio Island Word came to the Island Strategic ISAC member Bryan Gulley told Action Committee this week that the group that county officials Year-long legal fight work on the Park Road 22 Water informed him Tuesday afternoon that Hurricane Hanna tore the t-head off of Bob Hall Pier Exchange Bridge will be by October inspections of the pier’s structure essentially leaves 5 at the latest. Crews were scheduled after Hurricane Hanna found cracks The structure is owned by Nueces Not the first time… to begin work the week after Labor in the concrete support structures County and leased to Mikel May’s both parties where with exposed rebar. The pier is part of the 374-acre Padre Day until an unresolved design owners who pay a portion of receipts Balli Park and according to the Texas problem caused a delay that means “The structure is forty years old,” to the county for rent. The business State Historical Association was they started the project has to go back to the Gulley said. has been closed since Hurricane originally built in 1950 and named By Dale Rankin Corpus Christi City Council. The Hanna. Gulley told the group that the newest after Precinct 1 Nueces County The City of Port Aransas and the issue has to do with the testing of Gulley said the initial cost estimate Commissioner Robert Reid Hall. It subsoil (sand) which means columns portion of the pier structure which Port of Corpus Christi this week houses Mikel May’s Beachside Bar for the repairs is $13.4 million with was initially built of wood and was ended a year-long legal spat over of gravel will have to be added under the possibility of funding coming 300 feet long and cost $17,300. the approaches to the bridge for & Grill will not be torn down, but the development on Harbor which is roof there will have to be replaced. from the Federal Emergency But just two years after its located across the Corpus Christi stability. We’ve waited sixteen years Management Agency. There was no for the project to start so a few more Gulley said he was not sure if the completion, its popularity with Ship Channel from Port Aransas but business could stay open while the mention of a timetable for demolition Nueces County residents resulted in is inside its city limits. weeks won’t kill us. The good news or construction on the project. is that canal and bulkheads on both repairs are done. another 300-foot section being added The fight centered around the sides of the bridge site are done and Pier cont. on A4 port’s plans to build a desalinization ready to go. City officials told ISAC plant and Very Large Crude Carrier members Tuesday that work will start (VLCC) port on Harbor Island and on the northbound lane of the bridge A little Island history whether the city could prohibit or first. restrict either. Short-term rentals Island United Political Action Committee Port cont. on A4 Work on a short-term rental elections, if Islanders voted together By Dale Rankin Christi. Bonds for the Park Road ordinance is moving forward with their relatively small numbers, 6823, Water Exchange Bridge had been meetings by an ISAC subcommittee In the past twelve years the Island could swing elections across the city approved by voters in 2004 but there By the numbers which includes members from United Political Action Committee and Islanders, then four-percent of was no move to get the project done, the Padre Isles Property Owners has become the means of uniting the population and 10 percent of the same was true for bonds to build Voting over the Association. The PIPOA is currently Padre Island voters behind the property tax base, began to pay the Aquarius Extension project but working on a map of which areas of candidates chosen by registered attention. there was no follow through to get the Island should be allowed to have voters to back in the five city years the project done. short-term rentals and which should elections that islanders are eligible Voting Rights not. Once Islanders decide what rules to vote in. Apathy and cynicism ruled the day To understand local city politics you How The Island they want in place the ordinance will as Islanders constantly heard their have to go back to the Voting Rights go to the city council which likely Those include Mayor, City Council city leaders say, “The Island takes Act of 1965, which was signed into stacks up in will adopt what Islanders say they District 4, and three At-Large seats care of itself.” What that meant in law by President Lyndon B. Johnson, want. The complaints continue to which are selected by a plurality practical terms was that because aimed at protecting voting rights Presidential come in about noisy visitors partying vote. Islanders split their votes between guaranteed in the 15th Amendment in residential neighborhoods on Elections It all started in 2008 when there various city candidates, once elected to the U.S. Constitution. One of the weekends. It is unlikely that any were 6823 registered voters in the officeholders at city hall could ignore main tenets of the reforms was to 1992 General Election ordinance will make it to the council two voting precincts on North Padre The Island without political peril. We do away with At-Large city council until late 2020 at the earliest but now 144,844 registered Nueces Island. That number was slightly cancelled each other out. seats which required office seekers is the time to make yourself heard on County voters down from 6846 Island voters in to raise the money necessary to run the issue. Let the PIPOA office know 2006 out of 197,596 registered in a citywide campaign. The effect was 100,791 votes cast in November what you think or tune in to the next Nueces County. City elections then were held in the to keep the power in the hands of General Election ISAC meeting.