Council, P&Z will discuss uses of 67 acres
BY PHIL REYNOLDS SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

City council members and the city's Planning and Zoning Commission will sit down tonight, Thursday, Sept. 14, to talk about 67 acres the city owns with frontage on the Corpus Christi Ship Channel.

Time may be running out. City Manager Michael Kovacs reported that when the city renewed a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit allowing a marina on the property earlier this year, the Army seemed reluctant to grant the renewal.

"Could this be our last renewal?" Kovacs asked. "If so, we have five years of .permit value' to do something with the property."

The Corps of Engineers has now granted four permit renewals but no use has been made of them.

The property, at the end of Port Street, became the center of controversy

in 2004 when developer Ralph

P&Z will discuss uses of 67 acres

Durden answered a city request for proposals by designing a combination marina-retail-hotel area on the site.

Durden's first proposal encroached on the adjacent Charlie's Pasture Nature Preserve property, drawing fire both from environmentalists and from residents who objected that land acquired for the nature preserve shouldn't be used for a development.

Subsequent redesigns of the plan brought the project in line with property boundaries, but in 2005 the city council declined to renew a memorandum of understanding with Durden, and the project lapsed.

One part of the Durden proposal was to create a second ferry landing at the site. That idea was echoed by several people, both residents and council members, who agreed that

the city needs both a marina and more ferry slips. It's one idea that could be considered at tonight's meeting.

Among the city's other options, according to Kovacs:

+ Avoid development and save the land for future use, allowing property values to rise

+ Add it to the nature preserve acreage, which now totals about 1,200 acres

+ Create a new ferry landing and stacking area there; Kovacs doesn't advocate either replacing the current landing or adding to the current slips

+ Authorize a new public harbor, using the Corps of Engineers marina permit

+ Lease the land for mixed use, either with or without a harbor

+ Authorize a private-public deal for possible hotel, water park or theme park that would be touristoriented

+ Use the site for city facilities, including a public square and open spaces

+ Dredge a harbor with some space to be used privately, either under private or public management.

Kovacs said council members need to decide whether the land should remain publicly owned or dedicated to public use and what public goals or benefits it could provide. The council also needs to decide on a timeline for putting the land to some use, he said.

The workshop is scheduled for 5 p.m. in the city council chamber. No public testimony is provided for in

the city council agenda for the workshop and no action is called for.

Residents remember 9/11