City to consider options for 67 acres
BY PHIL REYNOLDS SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

City council members begin tonight, Thursday, Sept. 20, the process of working through a matter that has brought segments of the city into disagreement and threatened a city-wide referendum - what, if anything, should the city do with 67 acres of land it owns at the end of Port Street?

The land is thought to be valuable because it fronts the Corpus Christi Ship Channel and carries with it a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit to build a marina on the site. Such designations have become more and more difficult to get as the Corps of Engineers cracks down on uses of wetlands.

The property leaped into prominence in 2004, when developer Ralph Durden answered a city call for proposals for the property by advocating a high-rise hotel, marina and other commercial developments. Durden's proposal overlapped property reserved for the Charlie's Pasture Nature Preserve and so angered many residents that they signed a petition aimed at limiting how much the city could spend on the project.

That petition was declared invalid because of its format and how it was presented, but the matter still rankles some residents, who accuse the city of trying to build on land set aside for parkland. (Actually, the city bought the 67 acres outright from American Bank in 1992. It is not now, nor has it ever been, proposed as part of the nature preserve.)

Today, suggestions for the site range from doing nothing and letting it lie fallow to allowing commercial developers to create a marina from it. The suggestions also include using city tax revenues to develop the property, as well as selling the property and putting the profit into an interest-bearing account for use by the city.

Three city council members (Mike Hall, Keith McMullin and Rick Pratt) who responded to a South Jetty e-mail poll about the property agreed that this time around, citizens should have plenty of input on the matter.

Hall pointed out also that even during the debate over Durden's socalled "Charlie's Harbor" project, which was rejected by the council after a lengthy series of presentations, residents told the city council that the city needs more marina space.

"I remain open minded on all the issues … but have to say I hope there is a way to satisfy the need for additional marina space," Hall wrote.

"In any event," he continued, "we need to have a well organized discussion with a cross section of the community to help decide what direction we will go."

McMullin said he hoped to see the city develop a plan for the marina within the next 6-12 months.

Today's workshop, at 4 p.m. in the city council chamber, is a first step.