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Cotter at beach improvements due
Don't expect to see vast numbers of bulldozers and graders when Nueces County Parks and Recreation crews begin scraping the shoulders of beach access roads.
Parks and Recreation Department Director Blake Pettis said his people will only work on one road in the Port Aransas area - Cotter Avenue, for about one-eighth of a mile from the beach.
The action is designed to give drivers using the roads more maneuvering room when passing other traffic. A dune permit is required because, under state law, no sand dunes along the beach can be disturbed without a permit from the governing body.
Pettis sought and received approval from Nueces County commissioners last week to do the blading, which will add shoulders to narrow beach access roads. That required a dune permit approval from commissioners. However, he pointed out, that approval did not include roads in Port Aransas, where dune permits are issued by the City of Port Aransas instead of by Nueces County.
Pettis expects to go before the city council at its next regular meeting, Thursday, March 21, to seek that dune permit.
"We've already gotten (Port Aransas) Planning and Zoning Commission approval for the dune permit, so it's just a matter of getting city council members to agree," Pettis said.
Only two beach access roads in Port Aransas fall under county parks jurisdiction. The other, besides Cotter Avenue, is Beach Street.
"We're not going to do anything to Beach Street because that just had curbs and sidewalks added to it," Pettis said.
City crews maintain all other streets yielding beach access, including Lantana Lane, Sandcastle Drive, Avenue G, Beach Access Road 1A and Beach Access Road 1.
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