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Wednesday, Mar. 24, 1999

No vote on bond package

Council hears plan, but doesn't endorse

By JAMES A. SUYDAM
Staff Writer

   The county's $90 million proposal to raise the JFK Causeway, dredge Packery Channel and build a fairgrounds in Robstown got the full attention of the City Council Tuesday.
   But it did not get the formal vote of endorsement that Mayor Loyd Neal had previously said he hoped it would.
   "There just didn't seem to be any overall desire to" pass a resolution supporting the plan, Neal said after the meeting. "No one called for it. Several council members spoke in support of the plan. We just didn't take a vote."
   County Commissioner Joe McComb presented the county's plan, which will put a $38.5 million bond proposal before voters June 12. County Judge Richard Borchard, who had previously planned to present the plan, couldn't make the meeting due to a meeting in Austin with bond attorneys, McComb said.
   But McComb said he wasn't there for the City Council's endorsement.
   "We're not here seeking the council's support of this project or endorsement of the project," he said. "We're simply here in response to an invitation to come and give you some information, and that's the purpose of this meeting today."
   No council members spoke in opposition of the plan.
   John Michael, project engineer with Naismith Engineering, briefed the council on the research behind the plan and the economic and environmental studies that have shown the projects to be feasible.
   The county plan would:

Build a $20 million county fairground in Robstown at State Highway 44 and U.S. Highway 77. The project would include a 5,000-seat main arena, a recreational vehicle park, horse stables and two show barns.

Dredge a million cubic yards of sand from Packery Channel, opening a direct path from the Laguna Madre to the Gulf of Mexico.

Raise the JFK Causeway to provide a more reliable storm escape route from Padre Island.

Divert highway money to help widen Farm-to-Market Road 624 in Calallen, which now sees as much daily traffic as Crosstown Expressway.
   In an effort to move away from 20 years of county government emphasis on building larger jails, commissioners hired Naismith Engineering in 1996 to study the feasibility of building a county fairgrounds and dredging Packery Channel. Raising the JFK Causeway was added to the county's list of bond projects in the past year.
   If voters approve the bond election, the county will not sell the bonds until the $51.5 million in state and federal money is secured, Noe Hinojosa, the county's financial adviser on the project, has said.
   Staff writer James A. Suydam can be reached at 886-3618 or by e-mail at suydamj@caller.com
   

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  © 1999 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.