Major revamp of island beach complete
GALVESTON — Workers on Thursday removed fencing and rust-coated pipe used to pump sand onto Galveston’s newly created beach, marking the completion of three months of work on part of what eventually will be the largest beach restoration project in Texas history.
The new beach stretches west from the 61st Street Jetty to about 75th Street, not as far as the Galveston Park Board initially wanted, but a significant increase in the beach in front of the seawall that already has become one of the most popular draws for beachgoers, said Kelly de Schaun, park board executive director.
“It’s going to be an economic gain for our community, undoubtedly,” said de Schaun, adding that one entrepreneur who rents beach chairs and umbrellas set up while work was ongoing to accommodate the crowds on the completed section of the beach.
The new beach i mpressed Herbert Abramson, 64, who strolled along the sand Thursday during his
visit from Oklahoma City. Abramson, who has been coming to the island for 25 years, recalled that waves lapped at pink granite boulders at the base of the seawall where sand now stretches nearly 300 feet to the surf.
“This was all excluded from enjoying it,” Abramson said.
There has been no beach west of the 61st Street jetty at least since an extension to the seawall was completed in 1962, said Sean McConnell, archivist at Galveston’s Rosenberg Library. The seawall extension began at 61st Street and extended west, the first addition since 1927.
Jeremy Matkin, 34; his partner, Suzette Butler, 32; and their daughter, Kaydinse, 5, vacationing from Salt Lake City, were impressed by the abundance of seashells they discovered on the new beach. The family had just arrived in Galveston after spending a week on South Padre Island.
“We are up here for a week and we don’t ever want to go back to South Padre Island,” Matkin said. Galveston has more cultural offerings, he said, but the creation of a beach in front of their condo sealed their loyalty to Galveston.
The Park Board initially had hoped to create a much longer beach, but the project was limited by the sand available from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging project in the Houston Ship Channel.
“There wasn’t as much material as we expected,” said Tricia Campbell, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project manager.
De Schaun said the Park Board and Land Office are negotiating with the Corps to get sand placed on Galveston beaches every time the channel is dredged, usually every 18-24 months. If enough sand is available in the next dredging, it could be used to extend the new beach farther west, she said.
The ability to reach an agreement with the Corps hinges partly on a Park Board request pending with the Land Office to raise its daily parking rates from $8 to as much as $15, de Schaun said. The money is needed to pay the corps for sand, she said.
The project began at the request of the Park Board and the Land Office, which together paid the Corps $8.9 million to move and place the sand.
The Corps paid $11 million for the dredging, Campbell said, only enough to cover its costs.
“By no means are we making any kind of profit,” Campbell said.
The new beach stretch- es about 300 feet into the Gulf, Campbell said. It was designed so about 150 feet would gradually disappear beneath the waves, she said.
With this phase finishing, the Galveston Park Board and the Texas General Land Office have begun preparing for another part of the massive renewal project next year for the existing beaches to the east of the expanse of new sand. The two projects together compose the largest beach restoration project in the Texas Gulf Coast history, Land Office spokeswoman Brittany Eck said.
The Corps will not be involved in that project, which will be done by a private contractor submitting the best bid.
The Corps has scheduled a ceremony to mark completion of the project for 9 a.m. Friday on the beach at 69th Street.