Aug. 9, 06 - Done deal, County agrees on revised Isla Blanca lease

By DAISY MARTINEZ
Cameron County Commissioners needed two executive sessions Tuesday before voting 4-1 to accept a revised lease agreement to keep private development outside Isla Blanca County Park.

The county entered into a development deal on March 15, 2005, with investors, the Laguna Madre Enhancement Group, who signed a lease for 160 acres of the county park.

More than a year later and after public pressure to cancel the lease, the commissioners negotiated the agreement to apply to only 27 acres, excluding all property included in a Brownsville Navigation District deed to the park’s toll gates.

 "This is a good agreement because I believe it finalizes our effort of taking Isla Blanca Park out of the [development plans],” County Judge Gilbert Hinojosa said. “But it also allows the developer to get a much better agreement with respect to revenues.”

With the development, the county will still be fairly compensated and will obtain revenues, Hinojosa said.

Twenty-seven acres of county property near Schlitterbahn Beach Waterpark will be divided into four tracts of at least 5 acres each for the new contract, Hinojosa said.

The contract requires the investors to develop those tracts within eight years, in two-year staggered periods, Hinojosa said.

The Laguna Madre Enhancement Group will pay the county $80,000 a year to hold the lease. After construction begins, the developers will pay $20,000 per tract.

If a tract is not developed after the two-year periods, the revised lease returns control to the county or developers will need to pay an additional $120,000 to keep the leases of each tract, officials said.

“Most of the [contract] is drafted, we just need to work out the language,” Hinojosa said. “I’ll probably sign it by the end of this week.”

The only commissioner to oppose the revised lease agreement was David Garza of Precinct 3.
Garza favored the original development plans that were approved in 2005, he said.

In a special commissioner’s court meeting July 13, Garza made a motion to terminate the contract altogether. After a rescinded second by Commissioner Pedro “Pete” Benavidez, the court voted 3-2 to amend and not terminate the lease.

“My nay is because I have not seen the agreement and until I see the agreement I cannot support it,” Garza said. “I did not have anything to look at. I don’t know the specifics of the agreement, and I’m not going to vote on something I only got half the information on.”

Garza would’ve liked more time to make a decision and have all the facts in hard copy, rather than going by someone’s recollection, he said.

“In this country, the majority rules,” Garza said. “And I’m well aware that once the court moves on this project, I’m going to support it.”

Hinojosa said the agreement took a while to finalize because of the complexity of the legal situation.

“When you have a situation like the one we had, it takes a while to fix it,” Hinojosa said. “It was complicated to repair.”

Development group representative Doyle Wells, a partner of the Laguna Madre Enhancement Group, heard the commissioners’ vote Tuesday.

“I’m satisfied that we worked it out,” Wells said. “I’m pleased.”

A final agreement requires the refining of details to make sure the parties have a complete document, Wells said.

Wells said he is comfortable with dividing the 27 acres of land into four 5-acre tracts because the plan mirrors the intentions of his group’s master plan.

The Wyland Foundation aquarium is not included in the revised lease agreement.

“I hope in the future the importance of an aquarium will be addressed,” Wells said. “I still have faith.

The tracts will be for hotels, but not just “another hotel on the beach,” Wells said. But Wells said planning the private development will not resume until next year.

“We lost this year’s momentum,” Wells said. “Next year, we will begin the planning phase and go ahead with getting the hotel permits.”

In the agreement, the development group holds a provision that allows them to build a hotel/casino if gaming is passed in Texas and the county, Wells said.

“But I don’t want to make a big deal about it. I’m not lobbying in any direction,” Wells said. “We’re just sitting back watching the legislature, and we’ll wait and see.”