County’s plan to condemn part of the 24,500-acre nature preserve smells of economic development
Some in Willacy worry about development on Padre Island
Jan 29, 2006
BY FERNANDO DEL VALLE
Valley Morning Star
The Brownsville Herald
PORT MANSFIELD, January 29, 2006 — Some residents here fear Willacy County would develop Padre Island land if the courts allowed it to be seized from a wildlife refuge.
But County Attorney Juan Angel Guerra said the county and its Navigation District want to give residents access to the Island.
As part of a plan, they would develop a park that would include a boat dock and restrooms, Guerra said.
“I don’t think it’s about access for Willacy County. I think it’s about development,” said Walt Kittelberger, a fishing guide who serves as chairman of the Lower Laguna Madre Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preservation of the bay.
In November, the County Commission and the Navigation District requested Guerra file under the law of eminent domain to take over more than 1,500 acres of Island land owned by the Nature Conservancy of Texas, a San Antonio-based nonprofit organization that preserves natural habitat.
“We just want access to the Island so people can enjoy the beach and the scenery there,” Guerra said.
A new law prohibits public entities from using eminent domain to seize private land to sell it, Guerra said.
But residents like Kittelberger fear the county and Navigation District could enter into a partnership with a private firm to develop the land.
“If the property is seized it would open it up for development, whether it would be the Navigation District or the county,” Kittelberger said. “It could be developed by a wide range of people. That’s why we’re so opposed. It’s bad for the environment and it’s bad for private property ownership.”
Guerra denied hidden motives were behind the plan.
“We’re not trying to do business there,” Guerra said. “There is no hidden agenda, there’s no hidden purpose.”
Mike Wilson, the Navigation District’s director, did not respond Friday to a message requesting comment.
The county would limit the land’s development to a park to include restrooms and a dock for an amphibious vehicle that would ferry residents from Port Mansfield to the Island, Guerra said.
“We want to make a park where the people of Willacy County could go and enjoy the beach,” he said.
At the Conservancy, Director Carter Smith said he’s concerned the county and Navigation District could use eminent domain to sell the land for development.
The county’s plan to condemn part of the 24,500-acre nature preserve could threaten endangered species and their habitats, Smith said.
“This does appear to be about promoting tourism and economic diversification,” Smith said. “That sounds like economic development to me.”
Under law, governments cannot use eminent domain to seize private land for the primary purpose of development of economic development projects.
“They have made no effort to communicate their intentions although we are long-standing landowners and taxpayers in the county,” Smith said.
The county will try to reach a “mutual agreement” with the Conservancy before it files an action to condemn the land under eminent domain, which gives governments the right to seize private land for the public good, Guerra said.
The land’s ownership would allow the Navigation District to launch a proposed project that would ferry residents from Port Mansfield to the Island’s beaches.
The county stands behind an agreement intended to allow the Navigation District to buy Island land in an area across the bay from Port Mansfield, Guerra said.
In the early 1990s, a Houston-based insurance company known as American General Corp. agreed to sell 300 acres of its Island land to the Navigation District for $300, Guerra said.
Later, American General sold 24,500 acres, including the 300 acres earmarked for the Navigation District, to the Nature Conservancy for nearly $9 million, Guerra said.
In the agreement, American General stipulated that the 300 acres be sold to the Navigation District, Guerra said.
But Smith said the Conservancy didn’t buy the land from American General. Instead, the organization bought the land from a Houston-based company known as Westbrook, SP about five years ago, Smith said.
For years, the Navigation District planned to ferry residents from Port Mansfield to the Island’s beaches.
In 2002, the state General Land Office awarded the Navigation District a $700,000 grant to fund a project to ferry passengers to the Island.
In April 2004, the Navigation District paid $90,000 for an 1966 amphibious craft that could take as many as 30 passengers from Port Mansfield to the Island about 10 miles across the Laguna Madre. But the state refused to reimburse the ferry’s purchase.
The state refused to reimburse the purchase because the craft didn’t comply with requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which required the vessel be wheelchair accessible, Jim Suydam, spokesman for the General Land Office in Austin, said in an earlier interview.
Last March, the state pulled the grant because the Navigation District “failed to meet their business plan,” Suydam said.
Last year, public hearings in Raymondville, Corpus Christi and San Antonio sparked concern that the project’s proposed construction of restrooms and docks threatened the Island’s pristine habitat, Colin Campbell, superintendent of the Padre Island National Seashore in Corpus Christi, said in an earlier interview.
The office refused to approve the Navigation District’s plan to land the ferry because it could threaten the Island’s ecological system, Campbell said.
“We have already protected that land for a clear and compelling public use benefit, not the least of which is protection of the open beach for public use and enjoyment and conservation of protected species and habitat on the Island,” Smith said. “The access may not be as easy as some would like but there is unfettered access.”
© 2006 The Brownsville Herald www.brownsvilleherald.com
Jan 29, 2006
BY FERNANDO DEL VALLE
Valley Morning Star
The Brownsville Herald
PORT MANSFIELD, January 29, 2006 — Some residents here fear Willacy County would develop Padre Island land if the courts allowed it to be seized from a wildlife refuge.
But County Attorney Juan Angel Guerra said the county and its Navigation District want to give residents access to the Island.
As part of a plan, they would develop a park that would include a boat dock and restrooms, Guerra said.
“I don’t think it’s about access for Willacy County. I think it’s about development,” said Walt Kittelberger, a fishing guide who serves as chairman of the Lower Laguna Madre Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preservation of the bay.
In November, the County Commission and the Navigation District requested Guerra file under the law of eminent domain to take over more than 1,500 acres of Island land owned by the Nature Conservancy of Texas, a San Antonio-based nonprofit organization that preserves natural habitat.
“We just want access to the Island so people can enjoy the beach and the scenery there,” Guerra said.
A new law prohibits public entities from using eminent domain to seize private land to sell it, Guerra said.
But residents like Kittelberger fear the county and Navigation District could enter into a partnership with a private firm to develop the land.
“If the property is seized it would open it up for development, whether it would be the Navigation District or the county,” Kittelberger said. “It could be developed by a wide range of people. That’s why we’re so opposed. It’s bad for the environment and it’s bad for private property ownership.”
Guerra denied hidden motives were behind the plan.
“We’re not trying to do business there,” Guerra said. “There is no hidden agenda, there’s no hidden purpose.”
Mike Wilson, the Navigation District’s director, did not respond Friday to a message requesting comment.
The county would limit the land’s development to a park to include restrooms and a dock for an amphibious vehicle that would ferry residents from Port Mansfield to the Island, Guerra said.
“We want to make a park where the people of Willacy County could go and enjoy the beach,” he said.
At the Conservancy, Director Carter Smith said he’s concerned the county and Navigation District could use eminent domain to sell the land for development.
The county’s plan to condemn part of the 24,500-acre nature preserve could threaten endangered species and their habitats, Smith said.
“This does appear to be about promoting tourism and economic diversification,” Smith said. “That sounds like economic development to me.”
Under law, governments cannot use eminent domain to seize private land for the primary purpose of development of economic development projects.
“They have made no effort to communicate their intentions although we are long-standing landowners and taxpayers in the county,” Smith said.
The county will try to reach a “mutual agreement” with the Conservancy before it files an action to condemn the land under eminent domain, which gives governments the right to seize private land for the public good, Guerra said.
The land’s ownership would allow the Navigation District to launch a proposed project that would ferry residents from Port Mansfield to the Island’s beaches.
The county stands behind an agreement intended to allow the Navigation District to buy Island land in an area across the bay from Port Mansfield, Guerra said.
In the early 1990s, a Houston-based insurance company known as American General Corp. agreed to sell 300 acres of its Island land to the Navigation District for $300, Guerra said.
Later, American General sold 24,500 acres, including the 300 acres earmarked for the Navigation District, to the Nature Conservancy for nearly $9 million, Guerra said.
In the agreement, American General stipulated that the 300 acres be sold to the Navigation District, Guerra said.
But Smith said the Conservancy didn’t buy the land from American General. Instead, the organization bought the land from a Houston-based company known as Westbrook, SP about five years ago, Smith said.
For years, the Navigation District planned to ferry residents from Port Mansfield to the Island’s beaches.
In 2002, the state General Land Office awarded the Navigation District a $700,000 grant to fund a project to ferry passengers to the Island.
In April 2004, the Navigation District paid $90,000 for an 1966 amphibious craft that could take as many as 30 passengers from Port Mansfield to the Island about 10 miles across the Laguna Madre. But the state refused to reimburse the ferry’s purchase.
The state refused to reimburse the purchase because the craft didn’t comply with requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which required the vessel be wheelchair accessible, Jim Suydam, spokesman for the General Land Office in Austin, said in an earlier interview.
Last March, the state pulled the grant because the Navigation District “failed to meet their business plan,” Suydam said.
Last year, public hearings in Raymondville, Corpus Christi and San Antonio sparked concern that the project’s proposed construction of restrooms and docks threatened the Island’s pristine habitat, Colin Campbell, superintendent of the Padre Island National Seashore in Corpus Christi, said in an earlier interview.
The office refused to approve the Navigation District’s plan to land the ferry because it could threaten the Island’s ecological system, Campbell said.
“We have already protected that land for a clear and compelling public use benefit, not the least of which is protection of the open beach for public use and enjoyment and conservation of protected species and habitat on the Island,” Smith said. “The access may not be as easy as some would like but there is unfettered access.”
© 2006 The Brownsville Herald
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Sunday, January 29, 2006
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