City may lose control of dune permitting process
County wants to exercise its right to control permits
BY PHIL REYNOLDS SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

Port Aransas could lose its ability to decide when and how dune construction permits are issued if a move by Nueces County to centralize those permits succeeds.

The county's beach committee will meet tomorrow, Friday, Nov. 10, at 4 p.m. at Padre Balli Park on Padre Island.

The committee will look at centralizing all dune permitting with Nueces County, said Port Aransas City Manager Michael Kovacs.

Though the city now issues dune building permits within the city limits, state law allows the county to assume those powers. Port Aransas issues permits through a local, intergovernmental agreement with the county, Kovacs said.

County beach management committee members want arbitrarily to set development lines at 350 feet back

from the dune line instead of using the Port Aransas system of looking at each application and making decisions based on conditions and mitigation, Kovacs said.

"What we have here (in Port Aransas) is a one-stop system, and developers know what to expect," he said. "We think it works pretty well. But things don't work that smoothly in Corpus Christi."

Kovacs said the county's idea of using a 350-foot setback line has no basis in law, but is "kind of an unofficial thing they're using."