Hey Threadsters WATT DID I tell you guys about the annexation of the Island Portion of Cleberg County? @ Port Royal? Remember?

Beach takeover
I hope everyone in Corpus Christi and especially those who live on North Padre Island took the time to read Nick Nelson's article ("City says neigh to new stable," Jan. 28).
Apparently, Mr. A.R. Graham, owner of Mustang Riding Stables, would like to move his business to a 50-acre beachfront location just south of Balli Park, but the city won't allow him to do so. Why? According to Mr. Nelson, this land was annexed by the city in 2001, and zoned for high-rise condos and apartments.
Forget the vehicles. Let's talk about a public asset that the residents of Padre Island, the citizens of Corpus Christi, and, in fact, all Texans have a vested interest in. Before our elected officials give away to any group of real estate speculators the public's unabridged right of access to their beaches, these officials ought to make sure the public benefits from the transfer. No one yet has proven that to me.
Give 'em an inch . . . and they'll take a mile. First north of Balli Park and soon, a mile south.
Dave Plut
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Why did the City of Corpus Christi annex property that belonged to Cleberg County? Why did out of state workers (from Louisiana) work for BNP in the Land Cut before the rape (drilling) of the National Seashore? Texas Observer Political Intelligence: 3/15/2002 Barbara Canales-Black, who is running for the open Senate District 20 seat in South Texas, is co-owner of BNP Petroleum, which has recently begun drilling for natural gas on Padre Island National Seashore. Canales-Black’s firm quietly obtained the permit in February from the National Park Service, and the drilling has since become a hot issue in South Texas and in the election. She has three primary opponents, including McAllen State Represen-tative Juan Hinojosa, and a runoff is possible. (At press-time, the primary is still five days away.) Canales-Black is the scion of a well-connected political family and has been using her oil wealth to outspend Hinojosa three to one in the race. Her father is Tony Canales, Tony Sanchez’s private attorney. (Canales, you may recall, was the one who hired the private dicks involved in the embarrassing investigation–some say smear campaign–against former Secretary of State Henry Cuellar.) To access the site, BNP had to bulldoze a road through pristine dunes. The site itself is covered by a 1.7 acre well-pad made of crushed rock. As obtrusive as this is on an almost completely undeveloped national seashore, this well may be just the beginning. The company’s permit applies to a 1300 square-kilometer drilling area on the island, and BNP also has plans to do slant drilling–for oil, not gas–from the shore out into the bay and gulf. According to Erin Rogers of the Sierra Club, the company has benefited from the Bush administration’s "streamlined" National Park drilling rules, which do not require a separate environmental impact statement for each new well in a permitted drilling area. To add insult to injury, as recently as eighteen months ago the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had planned to designate as much as 7,000 acres in the area as critical habitat for the piping plover, a threatened bird. This designation would have made much of BNP’s proposed drilling area off limits. But BNP came back with their own habitat study, which predictably recommended protecting a much smaller portion of the seashore. Backed by Nueces County and local Chambers of Commerce, the company successfully lobbied FWS to reduce the protected area to 2,000 acres.


CCCT Article by Nelson
Before it was annexed by the city in 2001, the land was zoned for farming and ranching and was used as a stable. After the annexation, the city zoned the newly acquired land for high-rise condos and apartments, but the stable was grandfathered in and allowed to remain.

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Graham wants to join with that stable and take advantage of its grandfathered status, but the city says any addition to the stable, even additional horses, would violate the new zoning ordinance. Graham said the city so far has been inflexible in negotiations about the new site.
"It doesn't matter what you say to them - they just don't give a damn," he said.
Robert Payne, senior planner for Corpus Christi, said Graham's business worked well on Mustang Island, where the beach is wider and less crowded, but would be a poor fit for Padre Island.
"We're pro-business in this community, but this looks like compatibility is an issue on the island for this business," he said. Payne said the land would have to be rezoned as light industrial to accommodate the riding stables, but the city's current policy advises planners not to zone any of Padre Island for industrial use.
Graham had considered retirement last year, and even floated the idea to friends and customers.
"I was just going to take all my horses and move them to a ranch somewhere. There are a few old horses that have treated me real well, and I was thinking of putting them out to pasture," he said. "But then I had over a thousand calls asking why I wasn't staying in business."
Now Graham says he's determined to open the business again - and he hopes to do so in the next two weeks. He said that if necessary, he will take the issue to court. "I'll go out of town and get a lawyer who doesn't know anybody in this town and sue the city."
Contact Nick Nelson at 886-3678 or nelsonn@ caller.com