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Port Isabel Channel Dredging Will Make The Fingers Navigable Again
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Port Isabel Channel Dredging Will Make The Fingers Navigable Again
The long-anticipated dredging of the entrance to the Port Isabel Modern Venice area began New Year’s Day, City Manager Robert Garcia said.
 “The contract calls for dredging the channel to a minimum depth of six feet at low tide, plus an additional 800 feet west in the finger channel,” he said. “The dredge channel is 35 feet wide, 15 feet wide at the bottom.”
This initial dredging project will make the Fingers navigable again for most boats. But the dredging got a late start. RLB, the company that won the dredging contract, was supposed to finish the project by Nov. 9, but was delayed in getting equipment to the site.
“We are in a position to invoke the daily penalties for not meeting the completion deadline,” Garcia said. “However, what we hope to do is to negotiate additional work with the contractor in lieu of penalties.” Commissioner Joe Vega had much to say about the project.
“We are dredging undisputed public right-of-way property,” he said. “The channel was so badly silted in that not all the boats in the lighted boat parade could get in to the city docks.”
The dredge material from the west Fingers will be dumped, with the landowners’ permission, on undeveloped land, Garcia said.
“We have a long way to go to get the seawall built and do the job properly, but this will at least allow boats in and out for the time being,” he added.
The project will assess fees to surrounding landowners, the city manager said. Some property owners will be assessed the costs of dredging, infrastructure and seawalls. Other property owners, who already have seawalls, will be assessed the costs of dredging and infrastructure.
Those who already have both seawalls and infrastructure will be assessed only the costs of the dredging.
Still, individual property deeds have complicated the project, officials said. “Some property owners hold deeds that give them property rights out to the center of the channel,” Garcia said. “The deeds for others extend only partially into the channel.”
Since public tax money cannot be used to improve private property, those property lines are important, he said.
The city plans to survey property owners in the hopes that 51 percent of them will agree to form a Public Improvement District composed of people who own property along the Fingers.
This way, the city can front the expenses of the improvements and assess the property owners for the costs, guaranteeing payment with a lien on the property. This would solve the “no public money for private property improvements” issue, Garcia said.
However, the city would still need to establish exactly where each lot’s property line ends, Garcia said. And owners would still have to cede certain property rights to the city in cases where public money would be involved in making improvements.
“We need another workshop involving the property owners,” Vega said. “It’s been quite a while since the last one, and we have learned a lot about what we can and cannot do since then.
I think it’s time to sit down face to face again with owners and explain ourselves.”
In the meantime, just dredging the entrance and the west channel temporarily solves the navigation problems for a lot of boat owners, Vega said.
By:Carl Phillips/Island Breeze |
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By
Arthur @
Thursday, January 10, 2008 10:38 PM | |
A good article. I'm curious for a ball-park estimate as to how much each property owner will be assessed. It looks like a good project, but these things don't come free |
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By
Romero @
Friday, January 11, 2008 2:38 AM | |
We don't have a good ball park figure yet, as soon as this is available we will make sure to post it. Thank you for your comments! |
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By
James @
Friday, February 15, 2008 8:39 PM | |
I looked at property there a few months ago. The agent told me they were going to dredge, but she didn't have a clue as to how much the assesment was going to be. I was also curious about the existing docks, if they would have to be removed and reinstalled after the dreging was complete. Again, she didn't have a clue, so how can I buy a property like that? It's kind of a strange neighborhood anyway, you've got $300K houses next to $10K trailer homes. It looks like no building codes whatsoever. It looks like they're getting ready to start another "finger" soon, I would be curious if there will be some building standards there to prevent another substandard neighborhood from being built. With some proper planning, that could be a real nice area to build a house, especially if you like to fish. And it is close to the Walmart, and a lot of other conveniences. |
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