Lease Approved by Corps - can finally start working on west end of island

Got some good news late last week. The corps finally sent the county the executed lease. That means a lot of things but specifically it means that the county can legally start spending money on the west side of the island. I could go into what I think of the corps real estate division and the way they handled this whole thing, but it wouldn’t be productive and efficient with my time. 


You all will start seeing some activity on the west side of the island very soon. I am meeting with the contractor and their engineer next week to begin the process of rebuilding that road that is already funded. I would love to turn the contractor loose with a dozer to start the road today but the corps requires it to be engineered so that’s a process and expense we have to deal with. At the same time the county will be executing an MOU with the Port of Bay City who have graciously committed to rebuild the boat ramp. This will get that process started with their engineering and all. While the road is being rebuilt, Pct 2 will be taking down the pavilion and picnic area covers and be having new ones put up. The whole area will need to be scraped, leveled and drainage fixed. Now that we have it leased we can apply for grants/funding for a FEMA approved bathroom facility. 


This is what we have been waiting for so all this work could begin. All this engineering and construction is not going to happen overnight, but we can begin. Again remember, until we had the lease executed we couldn’t, by law, spend county funds on the property because the county didn’t own it or have it leased and engineering firms charge money. 


Please read the excerpt I snipped that’s in the lease. This means that until the road is built, the corps wants the gate to remain closed to public access. Besides it being a construction zone, it is not a safe and passable public road. The Pct 2 Road and Bridge office is not a law enforcement office. We cannot patrol and enforce anything. I am asking that the public obey the signs and stay within the contract terms. I would hate for there to be people that don’t obey the signs, something happen, and the corps pull the lease because of breach of contract. This would be so unfortunate after all the hard work we all put in to get to this point. Please stay out until the corps approves it to be opened to the public. 


While we are here, the engineering is done on the Community Center in Sargent and the Pct 2 JP office in Matagorda. I think they are finishing up the bid packets to go out this week. More on that very soon. 


Breakwater project bid packets now to go out 8/5. More on that later as well.

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