Council 'goes for broke' on harbor projects
Fish cleaning station, restrooms, amphitheater, sign improvements get nod
BY PHIL REYNOLDS SOUTH JETTY REPORTER

City council members on Thursday, Jan. 31, told the city staff to go ahead with negotiations with a contractor for nearly all the proposed first-stage improvements at Dennis Dreyer Municipal Harbor and Roberts Point Park.

The projects include:

• Upgrading the marina's entry sign and other signage in the park

• Building a new fish cleaning station away from the boat ramp area

• Adding a restroom and storage building and a haul-out ramp near the boat trailer parking lot

•Adding a new restroom near Fred Rhodes Memorial Pavilion

• Demolishing the existing Patsy Jones Amphitheater at the end of Roberts Point and making an overlook from it, and building a new amphitheater closer to the ferry landings.

Noticeably missing from the list of projects is adding more surfaced spaces to the existing boat trailer parking area. The reason, consultant Carolyn James said, was because bids for the parking lot surfacing were out of line with expectations.

She recommended going back for more bids on the paving project. The council agreed.

In any case, James said, paving should be the last thing done of the major harbor improvements. That will mean paving won't have to be torn up and replaced in the future.

Also missing are repairs to the existing boat ramps, a project sure to be near the top of any city council member's list of priorities. That's because the city has secured a grant from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department that will pay for 80 percent of the boat ramp renovation, with the city kicking in the additional 20 percent from the Harbor Fund. That means it won't be paid for from the $1.5 million the council set aside for harbor improvements.

Exclusion of the boat ramps from the harbor improvement list also puts some money back into the harbor improvement fund and means the council could approve the entire list, which has an estimated total of $1,539,052.

The council was nervous about construction interrupting events during the busy tourist season, but James reassured them that the contractor, Progressive Structures, from Burnet, was familiar with the situation and promised that no events would be interrupted.

"Traditionally, we'd start a project like this on Sept. 4," noted Councilman Mike Hall, referring to the slack tourist period following the Labor Day holiday.

"We've looked at the schedules, and he guarantees there will be no interruption," Jams said.

Council members also looked at a proposal to run a tunnel beneath Roberts Point to provide for water exchange between the Corpus Christi Ship Channel and the marina. James said engineers estimated the cost for a six-foot-wide culvert at $225,000- $250,000 and noted that the culvert would require baffles at each end to keep from swamping fishing boats that could be near the entrance.

That would include a computer-model study of where and how to place the tunnel to be most effective for the water exchange.

But City Engineer Jim Urban called the council's attention to the fact that it's discussing water exchange without fully understanding what is causing the problem. He suggested an additional study to learn where debris and other pollution originates, noting that the pollution study could be done at the same time the water exchange study is being completed.

"You're not going to eliminate the pollution," said Councilman Charles Bujan. "It's going to be there."

Bujan cited waste pump-outs from resident boaters, petroleum products and floating debris such as foam cups as major pollutants in the harbor.

Urban figured it would take at least three months to get the required permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but City Manager Michael Kovacs said the water exchange culvert can be done as a winter project.

The council is also looking at building a new floating dock for transient boaters and doing additional landscaping in Roberts Point Park, including the landscaping around the new buildings.

Landscaping, however, can be done at a later date, James said.