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Thursday, May 11, 2000
Study predicts little impact from Packery
Dredging channel would not affect environment much, preliminary report says
By Jonathan Osborne
Caller-Times
Opening a waterway from the Laguna Madre to the Gulf of Mexico would have little or no effect on the environment, according to a preliminary report released by the Army Corps of Engineers this week.
The study is not the report city officials need to begin dredging Packery Channel, but it is a good indication of what that report, which will be finished by October 2001, might say.
"It's got good base information, but it's not the final determination of environmental impact," said City Manager David Garcia.
Corpus Christi has partnered with the Corps of Engineers to dredge the channel in hopes of spurring development, such as hotels and resorts, on Padre Island.
The city stands to receive $19.5 million in federal funding for the $30 million project.
To complete the deal, the city must raise $10.5 million.
To avoid raising the tax rate to pay for the project, the city will try to sell $10.5 million in bonds that will be repaid with revenue from a special taxing district, know as a tax increment financing district.
Under this system, any additional tax revenues received from an increase in property values within the taxing district, which will include the commercial areas around the channel and along the seawall, would go toward paying off the bonds.
That way, Garcia said, the financial risk is on private investors, not the city or the taxpayers.
Those investors, Garcia said, won't see any return on those bonds unless the area develops into the resort and commercial destination that city staff predicts will be built there if the channel is dredged to clear a waterway to the Gulf of Mexico.
Marilyn Uhrich, a corps spokeswoman, said the preliminary report, which has no bearing on the city's project, looked at three passes to the Gulf - Packery Channel, a location to the north of Packery at the Fish Pass and a location to the south of Packery in Kleberg County.
"Packery was not the most beneficial to the environment," she said.
"It didn't harm the environment, it just had less benefits."
The report states that dredging to the south of Packery in Kleberg County would have the best environmental effect on the Gulf, which still would be relatively insignificant.
Dredging Packery Channel and the Fish Pass would be equally beneficial, the report states.
Tom Utter, assistant city manager for developmental services, said that dredging Packery Channel makes the most sense because it has the most potential for development.
Staff writer Jonathan Osborne can be reached at 886-3716 or by e-mail at osbornej@caller.com
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