Port: County can’t lease land it doesn’t own

EMMA PEREZ-TREVIÑO
The Brownsville Herald


April 7, 2006 — Developers want to build an aquarium, museum, amphitheater and other attractions at Isla Blanca Park, and they obtained a lease from Cameron County to do that last year.

There’s just one hitch: The county does not own all of the land it leased to developers.

That’s what Brownsville Navigation District officials maintain. They have a deed to prove it.

“The deed is in our name,” BND Deputy Director Nino Gutierrez said.

BND owns about 6½ acres in the southeastern portion of the park, he said.

The area falls within the property that the county leased to the Laguna Madre En-hancement Group in March 2005.

Gutierrez told the BND board about the situation at a meeting Wednesday.

BND CEO Bernard List said this provides the district with an opportunity for devel-opment. He said BND officials would explore options, including a public-private part-nership.

“The county might not be too happy,” board member Joe Gayman said.

Cameron County Judge Gilberto Hinojosa was not available for comment.

County Counsel Dylbia Jefferies Vega said the county and developers are aware of BND’s claim.

“If it is BND’s, it is,” Vega said, adding this could be resolved without problems. Vega said the county had not known about this because until recently, BND had not filed the deed with the Cameron County Clerk’s Office.

One of the developers, Doyle Wells, said he anticipates that the BND board would ei-ther convey the property to the county or to his development group.

“I don’t feel it is an issue,” Wells said.

Gutierrez said that at one time, BND owned Isla Blanca Park and other Island prop-erty and transferred it to the county. He said that the county “for whatever reason” transferred 6.49 acres back to BND in 1961.

“We don’t know why, but the fact remains that the deed is in our name,” Gutierrez said.

He said BND located the deed last year after Gayman asked about the possibility of BND owning Island property. BND recorded the deed in December 2005, and Gutierrez said county officials were advised of this also in December.

“It was decided that our attorneys would talk,” Gutierrez said.

He brought the situation to the forefront this week after he saw a plan of the pro-posed development.

“More than half of our acreage is inundated, but about 2½ acres are on good solid sand,” Gutierrez said. “The county is going to have to talk to the (BND) board. We own that property. We have put the county on notice.”