Isla Blanca Park saved from development

Commissioners vote to end lease agreement allowing private construction

BY MATT LYNCH


County commissioners voted 3-2 Thursday to exclude Isla Blanca Park from a lease between the county and development groups that would have allowed construction of hotels and other amenities within the park.

The plan to allow construction on the public land drew the ire of a group dedicated to saving the park for public use.

But Thursday’s vote by the county commission was an example of the democratic process in action, said Delton Lee, a member of the group dubbed “Save Isla Blanca Park.”

“We feel great. The community as a whole has stepped up to the plate and really accomplished something wonderful here,” he said.

County Judge Gilberto Hinojosa along with commissioners Edna Tamayo and Pete Benavides voted in favor of the move, while commissioners John Wood and David Garza were against the decision.

“What we’re doing by saying this is there will not be a casino on Isla Blanca Park as long as one of us is sitting up here,” Hinojosa said. “As long as I am county judge, there will not be a casino on Isla Blanca Park.”

Despite the split vote, Lee went on to share his satisfaction regarding the decision with county commissioners.

“We applaud you in your effort to take a step back and preserve this park for future generations,” he said. “From the bottom of my heart, we all appreciate the position you have taken on the subject.”

Cameron County initially contracted with the private development firm of Laguna Madre Enhancement Group as well as out-of-town developers in March 2005 to build an aquarium, hotel-condominiums, an IMAX theater and a casino on land that includes Isla Blanca Park.

But because state legislators have not authorized gambling casinos, county officials began to rethink the deal, Hinojosa said.

“The position I took at the beginning is that I thought the lease was contingent on gambling,” he said. “That’s not to blame anyone but myself. I should have looked at it more closely.”

Hinojosa said that when city officials first approved the lease, the potential for tax revenue from the development was too good to pass up for a county struggling to make ends meet.

“We all wanted to generate more money for Cameron County. We have 400,000 people in Cameron County, and a lot of our kids never make it out to Isla Blanca Park,” he said.

Public pressure also played a role in the decision to exclude the park from future development, Benavides said.

“I don’t care about the master plan at this point,” he said. “We’ve had so many negatives. I want to pay attention to the public. If there are people who want the development, where are they? The only ones who are talking about it are those who don’t want it, and I got elected by those people.”

Wood questioned the need for the decision, saying that development would have provided more money for the upkeep and reno-vation of the park.

“The legislation passing casino gambling would have allowed for a master plan that would have made the area a resort destina-tion,” he said. “It would have benefited the people because there would have been amenities that anyone could enjoy if they wanted to.”