Trade Off Worth The Price?

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Caller/Times Launches Beach Propaganda Series.

The Big Tradeoff
As January of 2006 nears its end the issues of beach development and the continuation of the right to access the beaches are entering a new phase.
In the Sunday edition, January 22, 2006, The Corpus Christi Caller/Times, no friend of public rights to beach access, began its propaganda series about how beach development has “improved” the beaches in Destin, Florida, Galveston and South Padre Island, Texas.
The series, written by reporter Nick Nelson, explores many aspects of beach developments, including projects by the Vancouver, Canada based Intrawest Corporation. This company is believed to be the company developer Paul Shexnailder is dealing with in planning to build the resort and condominium complex in the Packery Channel area.
Tim McNulty, a company spokesman has not confirmed or denied that Intrawest is the company involved but he is quoted in the article. “We operate in very challenging environments. They tend to be pristine wilderness environments. When we go into a community we work very closely with the local and state community and look to gain broad support.”
The matter of building community support here locally has largely fallen to City Council member Mark Scott who has lead the City Council and the Mayor as they have wiggled and waffled on just how much beach and Packery Channel access is to be closed off, not just to vehicular access but public control and access as well.
Their efforts have polarized and divided the community among those who want the economic impact, even at all cost to public rights and the environment, basically a public be damned attitude, and those who want development to conform to safe environmental standards and to preserve the traditional manner of beach use locally.
There is much of interest in the article. Paul Milana, lead architect for the Padre Island projects, is quoted in the article. Expressing shock and surprise at how “little” coastal development there is, Milana said “You fly to Corpus Christi and see that there’s this huge city and it’s only thirty minutes from the airport to this site and you say ‘What’s been happening here the last 100 years!” The implied sentiment is that the island and everything else nearby should be even more developed than it is now! Apparently to the developers, politicians and their flacks, wall-to-wall buildings, streets and parking lots are the only acceptable use of land.
Late in this installment Nick Nelson writes “In South Walton County vehicular access is the price locals have paid to bring resort development to the area, and locals have mixed feelings about that.” Well, there is mixed reaction to these kinds of plans here as well.