SPI looking into massive beach project

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND — After years of beach erosion, local efforts are underway to launch what City Manager Dewey Cashwell calls the largest beach recovery project in Texas history.

A pocket of sand in the Gulf of Mexico could yield tens of millions of cubic yards of material for South Padre Island beaches, according to the first phase of a study sponsored by the Island and its economic development corporation. The study also identified two other possible offshore sand sources.

An area in the Laguna Madre near the U.S. Coast Guard Station could also provide about a million cubic yards of sand, but it’s difficult to transport to the beach, said Richard Franke, president of the Economic Development Corporation, which leads the Island’s beach restoration efforts.

Another area near the south jetty of the Brownsville Ship Channel could supply perhaps another million cubic yards of sand, Franke said.

“But the main sand source is going to be directly in front of South Padre Island, in 50 to 70 feet of water maybe one to three miles offshore,” he said. “That’s the source that could have tens of millions of cubic yards of sand available for the beach.”

Phase two of the study is slated to start this month, sampling the sand and determining exact quantities that could lead to permitting and seeking grant sources, Franke said.

The work could lead to a beach restoration “like we’ve never had before,” he said, adding that past projects have added approximately 300,000 cubic yards of sand every two years while the upcoming project would provide two to three million cubic yards at once.

“It’s a huge difference,” Franke said. “You can renourish the entire beach, not just one section.”

Areas with high beach erosion could one day “see 200 feet of beach out there,” he said.

South Padre Island has a history of ambitious beach restoration projects.

In June 2005, the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association named the Island one of four American beaches worthy of its national preservation award. Mayor Robert N. Pinkerton Jr. would later travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with U.S. Rep. Solomon P. Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, to claim the prize.

And then trouble came.

By the time Hurricane Rita hit near Galveston in September 2005, South Padre Island had pumped approximately 2.103 million cubic yards of sand onto its beaches since the economic development corporation’s formation in 1993, according to Island Breeze archives. Then, overnight when Rita landed hundreds of miles away, the sea levels off the Island were elevated about 3 feet, according to the National Weather Service in Brownsville.

Town maintenance crews worked late into the night to reinforce sand berms along the beach property lines, but the wave action flattened those walls, destroyed some dune walkovers and flooded property along Gulf Boulevard. Bayfront property also suffered from rising waters, as did Isla Blanca County Park where the seas rushed over its parking lots and tattered pavilions.

The erosive forces continued to hammer the beach into the following morning. Officials estimated South Padre Island’s beach nourishment efforts were set back years.

Now, officials hope the approximately $800,000 offshore study could find sand to end the town’s dependence on the Brownsville Ship Channel dredging cycles. Officials did not provide estimates of the cost for any beach renourishment that would follow the study.

“We’re in hopes that all will go well with the offshore sand source (study), and the optimistic schedule (of placing sand on beaches) by October 2008 will be correct and accurate,” Franke said.

“Then, we’ll put a lot of sand on the beach and we should be in good shape for years.”