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.”