Channel opening a study in contrasts
Gulf access expected to boost development on North Padre Island
BY DAN PARKER SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

Sailboats head south toward Port Aransas during the 20th annual Harvest Moon Regatta on Friday, Oct. 6. The race starts in Galveston and ends in Port Aransas. This year's race drew about 180 boats. Turn to Page 1B for more on the event.

Official dedication ceremonies at Packery Channel on Friday, Oct. 6, were full of strange and sometimes ironic contrasts.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, dressed impeccably in a tailored ensemble, sat primly on a riser under a tent while, only a few dozen feet away, ordinary beachgoers waltzed by, bare-chested.

The mood at the long-awaited dedication was ebullient, and yet many in the crowd were coughing and hacking due to the effects of red tide in the water.

The event was held to observe the opening of a new waterway, and yet city workers labored with shovels to build berms to prevent the tide waters from reaching the tent where the celebration was taking place.

While most were present to celebrate completion of the $30 million effort, others stood at the fringes of the affair, passing out literature to voice opposition to a City of Corpus Christi plan to ban vehicular access to more than a mile of beach on the south side of the channel.

A nylon rope stretching across Packery Channel stands in for a ribbon in a ribbon-cutting ceremony officially opening the channel at Padre Island on Friday, Oct. 6. Cutting the rope are, left to right, Denise Blanchard, deputy chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz; Nueces County Precinct 4 Commissioner Chuck Cazalas; U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison; Corpus Christi Mayor Henry Garrett; and Corpus Christi City Councilman Mark Scott.

After the ribbon cutting, about a dozen vessels roared through the channel in celebration of the official opening; yet, boats have been cruising in and out of the channel since it was opened by wave action from Hurricane Emily in July 2005.

The dedication ceremony capped a years-long effort to make Packery Channel a reality. Packery Channel previously was a natural pass that had been silted shut almost constantly

' since the early part of the 20th Century.

' Five years ago, Corpus Christi voters passed a measure that created a tax increment finance district to raise money to help pay for the project. Some 65 percent of the cost has been footed by the federal government.

Creating the new gulf access, it has been argued, will spark economic development in the form of a multi-million dollar resort at Packery Channel and associated enterprises.

Proponents also have said digging the channel would enhance the environment by serving as a migratory path for sea life and promoting water circulation. The project also would restore the beach that eroded in front of the existing seawall to the south.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began dredging in August 2003.

On Friday, Oct. 6, more than 250 people - everyone from ordinary Coastal Bend folks to top state and national leaders - gathered at Packery for the dedication. They parked on the beach near the north jetty, tip-toed around sprawling puddles left behind by high tides and congregated under a big tent to listen to dignitaries speak.

"Isn't this an absolutely wonderful day, Corpus Christi?" Corpus Christi Mayor Henry Garrett said to a big round of applause.

Speakers at the dedication said the project was completed despite numerous obstacles - including the voices of many in the community who opposed undertaking the project at all.

Detractors have included the City of Port Aransas. In 1998, city officials formally opposed the project based on safety and beach erosion concerns.

In Corpus Christi, opponents argued that dredging Packery Channel would unfairly destroy a public beach; that it would be doomed to failure due to natural forces eventually silting in the channel; and that taxpayers would be footing the bill for a project that mainly would benefit developers and the relatively well-off folks who could afford to stay in the resort that the channel is expected to attract.

At the channel's dedication, Garrett said many naysayers simply opposed change.

"There will always be those who don't want any change," Garrett told the crowd. "We must not listen to or follow the voice of the status quo."

U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz was not present but sent a representative who said Packery "represents the promise of positive tourism and trade for the area."

Nueces County Commissioner Chuck Cazalas said, "This has been an ambitious endeavor, and I commend all the sponsors." Cazalas represents Precinct 4, which includes Padre Island and Port Aransas.

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson noted that many cities use taxpayer money to build sports stadiums for local entertainment and to boost the economy.

"This is the stadium right here," Patterson said, pointing at Packery Channel.

Hutchison, who worked to bring federal dollars to help fund the dredging and jetty construction, received a standing ovation when she took the podium.

"This is the day we all have been looking forward to for so long," Hutchison said. "The leadership of this community really came together" to make the longdebated Packery project happen.

Packery will be "adding so much to this wonderful community that already is such a jewel in Texas," Hutchison said.

Shortly after the senator's comments, officials climbed up on the north jetty and used a pair of gold hedge clippers to cut a yellow nylon rope that stretched across the channel.

The rope fell, television and newspaper photographers fired away, and about a dozen boats that had been idling behind the rope motored gulfward, several of them leaping high in the air while passing over swells at the channel's mouth.