Man, San Luis Pass is pretty much the last cool part of Galveston. If they ruin that part too, I probably wouldn't ever be back. I would hate to see it get over-developed. So sad. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2476451 Galveston sued over plan to close beach Ocean front access By KEVIN MORAN Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Kim Christensen / Special to the Chronicle Beachgoers on Galveston Island have had oceanside parking for years. Now Galveston is planning to close part of the beach at San Luis Pass. GALVESTON-- Fishermen and others who have parked their cars at water's edge for generations on parts of Galveston Island filed a lawsuit Tuesday to prevent the city from banning vehicles on their favorite stretches of beach. Texas Open Beach Advocates, the group that filed the lawsuit in Austin, maintains that the city of Galveston for years has illegally banned vehicles from some developed areas of the island's 32-mile beachfront. And they say the city illegally plans to shut down traffic on four miles of beach near San Luis Pass on the island's far west end to ensure construction of a $500 million residential development. "We are asking for free and unrestricted access, as we've always known it at San Luis Pass," Houstonian Tim Lopas, a leader of the group that filed the lawsuit, said Tuesday. Galveston City Attorney Susie Green said the city has managed its beaches lawfully and that its blueprint for the beachfront's use is sound. "The city's proposed access plan is compliant with state law," Green said Tuesday. Green declined to comment further, saying she hadn't had time to study the 59-page lawsuit. The lawsuit also calls for the removal of huge, sand-filled textile tubes that have been installed on beaches abutting more than a half-dozen subdivisions to protect the beachfront homes from destruction by erosive storms. Commonly called sand socks, the tubes have been installed using various combinations of state, city, county, federal and homeowner money. Rather than protect the public beach, as required by the Texas Open Beaches Act, tubes increase erosion of the public beach, according to the lawsuit. A hearing on the group's petition for a court order to prevent Galveston from implementing a proposed beach access plan and to force the city to remove the sand socks is scheduled for April 20 in Austin. Which state district judge will handle the case was not decided Tuesday. Lopas is one of hundreds of beach users across the state who have protested the city's commitment to cut off vehicular access in areas abutting beachfront subdivisions as the projects are completed. Lopas said the group not only wants to keep those areas open to vehicles but reopen some other developed areas to drivers as well. According to the lawsuit, all the present and intended closures violate a provision of the Texas Constitution that gives only coastal county governments -- not city officials -- the right to regulate traffic on beaches. Centex, one of the world's largest residential builders, has promised to build a resort with 600 single-family homes and 900 townhouses near San Luis Pass if the city will close off parts of the abutting beach to vehicles. The lawsuit comes as the Texas General Land Office, which regulates use of the state's coast, holds its final public hearing today on a beach access plan the city of Galveston has worked on for more than two years. The plan calls for closing parts of the beach near San Luis Pass as Centex provides off-beach parking lots. The hearing is scheduled from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Seabrook Community Hall, 1210 Anders. Bill Warnick, land office general counsel, declined to comment Tuesday on the lawsuit's merits, saying he had not had time to study it. Warnick urged people to attend today's hearing. "Their comments will be listened to by the General Land Office and taken into consideration," Warnick said. Galveston city officials maintain that the beach access plan up for approval by the land office balances the interests of developers, residents, fishermen and other visitors. The plan would leave portions of the San Luis Pass area open permanently to those who want to drive on the beach. In the lawsuit, vehicular access advocates maintain that some Texas Administrative Code regulations for beach and dune management enforced by the land office violate not only the Texas Constitution but some federal laws as well. In particular, the lawsuit maintains, the rules deny equal access to beach areas, demanded by the federal Americans With Disabilities Act.
Not to worry. Centex bought this land quite a few years ago and had planned on developing it. Problem is, the demographic in the area makes the land almost worthless. With the cost per square foot being too high, Centex wouldn't be able to get a strong ROI. They are actually just trying to see what there possiblities are even though they know they can't develop it. For them, this land will probably go down as sunken cost.
We have a little house at Jamaica Beach where the highway goes down to two lanes. It looks like the Southwest Freeway now on Sunday afternoons. I can't imagine how Centex could think it would handle the increased traffic. No buildiing on the western island would be feasable without federally subsidized flood insurance, so thanks to everybody out there for helping me enjoy our little vacation home. That' sarcasm. I could afford mine, but it does seem ridiculous to see people building half million dollar homes right on the beach. Have they not seen the Cher Min Chow blowing sideways hanging on to a roadsign?
