Galveston West End Coalition Sue To Halt Development
A coalition of West End residents and environmentalists filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, claiming the agency violated federal laws by allowing the island’s last areas of vacant land to be developed.

The suit focuses on the permit the corps issued earlier this year to Frank Jones, the Houston developer who hopes to build a new canal subdivision called Anchor Bay on 142 acres next to the Spanish Grant bayside subdivision.

At a news conference, attorney Jim Blackburn told a crowd of about 35 supporters that, if any of the island’s open space were going to be preserved, it was time for the corps to do a cumulative assessment of the environmental effects of all West End development.

The Beach to Bay Foundation, the Spanish Grant Civic Association, representing the subdivision sections adjacent to the bay, and Lafittes’ Cove at Pirates’ Beach Nature Society are asking the court to suspend all West End development until the corps completes a comprehensive environmental assessment.

The group also is asking the agency to set aside the permit it issued to Jones for Anchor Bay.

The suit claims the corps violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act when it approved Jones’ development permit.

In October, Spanish Grant filed lawsuit against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality over its participation in the Anchor Bay permit. That lawsuit claims the state agency did not adequately review Jones’ plans because the letter it sent to the corps in support of the development cited laws that no longer exist.

The biggest problem, the group contends, is that the governmental entities charged with protecting the environment and the island’s residents are not looking at the big picture.

“The corps and the city are content to consider development in a vacuum and not consider the aggregate of all development,” said Scott Weaver, a director of the nature society. “But we’re not in a vacuum.”

Weaver said, as stewards of the island’s habitat, his group was compelled to join the suit. It was a last recourse but the group believed it was the only solution to the problem, Weaver said.

According to the lawsuit, the corps did conduct an environmental assessment for Jones’ application.

The study showed that the majority of the island’s West End was likely to be developed and that all of the building was having a significant effect on coastal hazards and natural habitat, according to the suit.

But the corps went on to conclude that Anchor Bay’s contribution would not change any of the long-term effects enough to justify denying the project.

Since 2004, 13 projects have been proposed and approved for the West End.

Jones is still waiting to get permission from the city of Galveston for the excavation permits he needs to move forward with his development.

Although Anchor Bay is the focus of Tuesday’s lawsuit, the group also is concerned about the Marquette Land Investment project on the other side of Spanish Grant. The city council will consider Marquette’s development request today.

Marquette, at more than seven times the size of Anchor Bay, will have a much greater effect on the West End, Blackburn said. But the Chicago-based developer has not filed its corps permit application, giving the group no reason to file suit over it.

If the council approves the project, Blackburn said he would consider asking the court to immediately order the corps to stop permitting West End development until the case can be decided.

By Leigh Jones
The Daily News

Despite opposition, Isle's West End development Ok'd

Company denies project will harm the area's wetlands

One of the last remaining undeveloped areas on this storm-battered barrier island will sprout thousands of new homes following the approval Wednesday of a controversial zoning agreement.

Officials of Marquette Cos., a Chicago-based firm that wants to develop the 1,058-acre Preserve at West Beach — the largest development ever proposed for Galveston — said the project would be a plus for the island.

But West End residents streamed to the microphone for several hours to express their opposition to an agreement they say will erase wetlands and lock the city into a bad contract.

The unusual agreement would rezone a large section of the development to recreational, a category that allows bars and other uses not normally compatible with residential areas.

But the agreement approved by the City Council restricts development to what is proposed in Marquette's plan.

Allison Brown, a 20-year resident, said the development would destroy the island's sense of place.

"Marquette would damage it ... natural serenity, sense of place with our beaches and our bays."

But John Lester, a property owner and real estate developer, told the council the development would give the city a say on how the land is used.

"If you don't approve this, you'll have people developing two acres here, five acres there and you don't know what you'll get. This is a wonderful opportunity for the city to grow and prosper."

Council's approval of the revised development agreement placed the development on better footing.

"We've done everything that we can do," said Darren Sloniger, managing director of Marquette Land Investments LLC., said during a break in the meeting that drew over 150 people to City Hall.

"We've cooperated with the city 100 percent, and we can sleep at night because we believe we have done the right thing," he said. "We've preserved the environment, we've considered the neighbors and we're proud of the development."

The proposed development would include two 15-story hotels, a marina, homes and possibly a golf course.

Sloniger said the Chicago-based company has worked hard to preserve ecologically sensitive areas of the massive project, setting aside 361 acres as a nature preserve. Opponents said it would obliterate 60 acres of saltwater wetlands and that the plan did not address vanishing freshwater wetlands.

Meanwhile, an environmental group and a homeowners' association filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday in an effort to halt the development by forcing the Corps of Engineers to conduct an environmental impact statement.

If it is successful, the lawsuit would effectively halt all development until the study is completed, which could take years.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include the Galveston Beach to Bay Preserve, a newly formed environmental group; the Spanish Grant Civic Association, and Lafitte's Cove at Pirates' Beach Nature Society.

The Beach to Bay Preserve led opposition to the zoning agreement, arguing that the development would gobble up wetlands and wildlife habitat in an area that is subject to rapid beach erosion and with little protection from devastating tidal surges spawned by hurricanes.

They also argue that the development would lead to traffic gridlock and make rapid evacuation difficult or impossible from an oncoming hurricane.

At stake, an environmentalist said, is "the loss of the `gateway of the West End.'

"It's (proposed development) over 1,000 acres with native prairie and grasses, from the beach to the bay, and it's been that way for over 100 years," Dr. Alice Ann O'Donell, president of the Beach to Bay Preserve, said before the meeting.

Her concerns were echoed by some residents who spoke out against the project, while others said the development would be good for the island.

Sloniger said Marquette had made substantial changes to the development agreement to accommodate community concerns.

The changes include reducing the number of lots along a proposed canal, opting instead for 1-acre estate lots; changing the entrance to a proposed marina and increasing the setback of tall buildings based on a geohazard map showing hazardous building areas.

The developers said they would donate 2.6 acres along FM 3005 for municipal use and also create an in-city municipal utility district to fund improvements such as water, sewage and drainage issues.

Chronicle reporter Harvey Rice contributed to this report.

Galveston opposition really need to get on board with creative destruction. This island is a hog pog littered with crumbling houses and horrific infrastructure. The economic interests will ultimately decide the fate of this island with or without the support of the NIMBY group opposition. So either get on board and make the best of this situation or fight for a unrealistic cause and see any of your hopes for "preservation" flushed at the mercy of the almight dollar.