County gives island high-rise OK
BY DAN PARKER SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

The Nueces County Commissioners Court voted to conditionally grant a dune protection permit to the developers of a high-rise resort planned for property just north of Mustang Island State Park.

The vote was 4-0 on Tuesday, Dec. 12. Commissioner Betty Jean Longoria was absent.

The dune protection permit - reportedly the last remaining permit needed by the developers of Maravilla Del Mar - will be issued on condition that the City of Corpus Christi satisfy concerns that the Texas General Land Office has about a long walkway over dunes that has been proposed as part of the project, said Commissioner Chuck Cazalas.

The $350 million resort is planned for property that lies on a part of Mustang Island that lies inside the Corpus Christi city limits. The City of Corpus Christi has issued a building permit for the project.

The GLO has questions about whether the walkway might damage too much vegetation and cause erosion, Cazalas said.

The resort would be a 500-unit condominium complex that would include a building that is 34 to 36 stories high and two other buildings that would be 32 to 34 stories high, according to David Underbrink, the project engineer, of Naismith Engineering in Corpus Christi. If built, they would be among the tallest buildings on the Texas coast south of Houston.

The Nueces County Dune Advisory Committee voted to recommend that county commissioners issue a dune protection permit, but commissioners on Nov. 29 tabled a vote on the matter after hearing concerns raised by Fred L. McCutchon, chairman of the committee.

McCutchon said the developer's plans for a bar and restaurant would set a bad precedent because the structures would be on the fist row of dunes bordering the beach. Other structures overlooking the beach on Mustang Island generally have remained farther from the water, leaving the first row of dunes intact, offering more protection from storm surges, he said.

Underbrink argued that the structures were to be very small buildings, only a "sandwich stand," a "drink stand" and a pair of restroom buildings. He said they were allowed under the Nueces County Beach Management Plan and that they would be on the second row of dunes, not the first row.

However, Underbrink later said the developers would not build the structures at all in order to obtain the dune protection permit to allow the overall project to go forward.

Developers have planned a 10-footwide elevated walkway that would stretch a few hundred feet across the dunes from the condominium complex to the beach. Developers have wanted condominium dwellers to be able to use small vehicles like golf carts on the walkway to move back and forth between the beach and the condominiums.

McCutchon said he had concerns that the walkway might shade vegetation so much that it would die, allowing storm surges to erode the dunes beneath the walkway. Underbrink said the walkway would be high enough to allow plenty of sun under it, and an irrigation system would keep the vegetation watered.

McCutchon also raised concerns that allowing golf carts to travel all the way to the beach on the walkway would hurt the dunes. Underbrink responded by adding a turnaround in the walkway design that would allow golf carts to turn around without damaging the dunes.