MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
Jerry Mohn, President, called the Board of Directors meeting for the West Galveston Island POA to order at 9:05 a.m. Directors making up the quorum were Jerry Mohn, Marvin Schneider - Spanish Grant Beach; Sidney McClendon – Pirates Beach; John Schiller – Acapulco Village; Tom Booth – Condominiums; James DeFord – Spanish Grant Bay; Clay Lewis of the Sportsman Road POA; Marti Bilek – Dunes of the West, Willa Nadalin – Terramar Beach and, Joe Santangelo of Isla Del Sol. Susan Gonzales – CKM Property Management and Recording Secretary.
In attendance was District 6 City Council member, Dianna Puccetti; Eddie Janek Jr, Vic Pierson – Mayor Jamaica Beach, Jeri Kinnear – Galveston Parks Board of Trustee Chair, Freddie Pour – Galveston County Sheriffs Department and Brandon Wade – Assistant City Manager of Galveston and Mark Muhich President of the Sahara Club.
Fred Poor, Galveston County candidate for Sheriff, was introduced.
Corporate sponsors, Sally Waters with Sand N Sea and Perry Culp with Apollo Environmental were acknowledged.
MINUTES: Minutes of the June meeting were sent by email and reviewed by the Board. Upon motion duly made by Tom Booth and seconded by Sidney McClendon, the following resolution was adopted by unanimous vote.
RESOLVED THAT, the minutes of June 16, 2007 were approved as presented.
FINANCIAL REPORT Jerry Mohn gave the financial report. Cash on hand $31,746.44 and total assets are $34,506.56. Upon motion duly made by Marty Bilek and seconded by Clay Lewis, the following resolution was adopted by unanimous vote.
RESOLVED THAT, the financial report was approved as presented.
City Council Report: City Council member Dianna Puccetti stated that the City will take no action on the Marquette project until the August 23, 2007, City Council meeting. She reported that the 60 acres between Indian Beach and Silverleaf – known as McAllis Point - is now protected property. The Trust for Public Land was able to raise the $2.5 million for the 60 acres.
Real Estate Statistics: Alice Melott gave a report on the statistics for the West End. Alice stated that the first half of this year compared to last year there was a 7% rise in value. There has been a 14% increase in value over the last five (5) years.
The Formation and Future of the Upper Texas Coast: Dr. John Anderson author of the book of the same name gave a presentation about the sand, storms and living by the sea using a geologist’s perspective.
Dr. Anderson discussed why the coast is changing and how fast, what is the cause of these changes, can the rate of coastal erosion be slowed, what is the threat and impact of hurricanes and how much more development can the coast withstand.
The island is shrinking. Erosion started 1200-1500 years ago. The river systems have changed; lower sea levels are the cause. The shoreline was 100 miles out from where it is today. When sea levels rose rapidly the beach eroded at 50-60 feet per day. Approximately 80% of the glaciers in Antarctica are melting at an accelerated rate. The sea level is rising and the sediment is decreasing, which is causing the beach erosion. The entire Gulf of Mexico basin is going down. Another cause of erosion is the loss of ground water, and the removal of oil & gas.
The sand from Galveston Island due to prevailing SE winds and long shore currents, transfers sand from East to West. Sand ends up in the San Luis Tidal Delta; now it is a part of the wetlands. Sand lost from hurricanes washer over to the bay. How fast does the long shore transport system operate? Pretty fast, so if we make mistakes we pay for them soon.
How do we stop coastal erosion? We cannot stop it by building seaweed walls, bulkheads, etc. The Dunes migrate at the same rate as the shoreline. We have a vanishing dune line. Wetland restoration projects work, but beware of "quick fixes". Sand nourishment is best method to use.
Why is there no sand offshore? The equilibrium profile is a constant profile. Know only the beach is retreating, but also the elevation of the beach is being lowered. Have we missed on near beach sand resources? Why not take sand from the shore face? It would take a lot of sand to re-nourish our beaches for a very short time. Many local resources of sand are near but very costly to get out.
At this time there is not enough data to predict the future changes on our coast. The coast does not respond to linear rise and we do not have the data necessary to predict shoreline change in 50 to 100 years. The impacts of hurricanes can undermine Condominiums. The further west we develop the more severe the damage during a storm due to the smaller width of the island. The San Luis area is located on areas of potential threat to high loss during a storm.
As far as the Geohazard Map, Dr. Anderson, Dr. Jim Gibeaut, and Dr. Tim Dellapena all contributed to it at no cost. The fee the City paid was for the mapping information. Dr. Anderson’s message was not to give up one more inch of wetlands.
ASBPA Fall Sponsorship: Jerry Mohn requested $500 for sponsorship. Upon motion duly made by Tom Booth and seconded by Sidney McClendon, the following resolution was adopted by unanimous vote. RESOLVED THAT, the Board approved a payment of $500 to ASBPA.
Marquette Development: Jerry Mohn stated that the subdivisions on the beach and bay side have issues. A motion was made by James DeFord and seconded by John Schiller to remove the motion made last month from the table; the motion failed. Board members Marvin Schneider, Marti Bilek, Sidney McClendon, Joe Santangelo, and Villa Nadalin voted against the motion and James DeFord, Tom Boothe, Clay Lewis, and John Schiller voted for the motion. Discussion was held on writing an acceptable motion to find a balance for the affected subdivisions. Marty Bilek volunteered to help write this motion. It was recommended that John Strom with Laffites Cove help.
Jamaica Beach Post Office: Discussion was held to obtain help from Ron Paul to keep the Jamaica Beach Post Office. Upon motion duly made by Sidney McClendon and seconded by Tom Booth, the following resolution was adopted by unanimous vote. RESOLVED THAT, the Board approved to support keeping the Jamaica Beach Post Office.
Galveston Police Department Dive Team: Jerry Mohn announced that the August 18 meeting will feature the dive team. There will be a demonstration of the equipment used by the dive team.
There being no further business to come before the Board the meeting was adjourned at 11:45 AM.
Susan Gonzales
Acting Secretary