Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 7, 1978 Page: 2 of 8
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PAGE 2
SOUTH JETTY
DECEMBER 7, 1978
EDITORIAL
Council Ignoring Public Interest
The city council’s action, last week, in granting a variance to the
Base Flood Elevation ordinance may result in consequences that will be
felt by all property owners in Port Aransas.
The federal Flood Insurance Program that provides a significant
subsidy to flood insurance premiums, as well as assured that flood in-
surance is available in flood-prone communities that qualify, sets out,
among other requirements, that structures be built with a minimum
lower floor elevation that is above the height of the 100 year flood. In
Port Aransas, depending on the part of the City, the minimum required
lower floor elevation ranges from 8 feet above sea level to 11 feet above
sea level. In order to qualify for the program that ultimately makes
building possible to finance in Port Aransas, the City government must
have and enforce an ordinance that implements the requirements of the
program as set out by the Federal Insurance Administration. Port
Aransas has such an ordinance, and, for the most part, enforces it. There
is no doubt that it is in the best public interest to build the city in the
best practicable manner when we know that we can expect serious
flooding from hurricanes on a periodic basis.
Once a city has qualified for the program, it must report to FIA on
its continuing planning process relative to the requirements of the
program, as well as report any variances that are granted to the
implementing ordinance. On an irregular period, the federal agency
reviews city’s and county’s compliance with the program requirements,
and re-evaluates whether the area is continuing to remain in compliance
with the requirements. If there is an apparent disregard for the
requirements of the program, the community can be disqualified,
meaning that the subsidized program of flood insurance will no longer be
available. In practical terms, this means flood insurance will no longer be
available for any price. Without flood insurance, mortgage money
becomes unavailable for new building, and those people now holding
loans contingent upon flood insurance are in a position of having their
loans jeopardized, or even lost. The best that could be expected would be
a company offering flood insurance at a rate at least nine times that
being charged under the federal program.
All members of the city council are aware of the requirements of the
program and the possibility of disqualification. The record of Port
Aransas is not sparkling in the area of variances to the flood ordinance,
even without the most recent council decision on a variance grant. In the
past year, four variances to the ordinance have been granted (the one
last week makes five), with only two reasonably meeting the “hardship”
test, which is supposed to be the only reason for granting a variance.
Even though they were aware of the potential physical and financial
harm that a loss of the insurance program and its standards could bring
to the community, four council members, mayor Dennis Dreyer, Vera
Fortson, Ralph Keene and Ed Tichy, were willing to allow a totally
unnecessary variance for a structure that was built with, not only
disregard for the flood ordinance, but the builder had to be forced to
comply with the other minimum building standards of the City as well.
And there certainly was no hardship involved. The work involved an
addition to, and remodeling of a house in a low price range in order to
bring it up to a higher price for quick sale so the builders, Wayne
Pemberton and Richard Lee, could do more houses like it.
Little Things JSLeCin /I Lot by Steve Frishman
I don’t often give much atten-
tion to anonymous letters, phone
calls or other questionable in-
formation that crosses the desk,
but a flyer of unstated origin
came in the mail Monday morning
that seemed noteworthy, mainly
because it was on a subject that I
agmrjk
fi TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
Owner - Editor: Steve Frishman
SOUTH JETTY is published
every Thursday bv the South Jetty
Publishing Co., Port Aransas,
Texas. Subscription rate is $10.00
per year. 20 cents by the single
copy.
Subscription and Office Manag-
er: Sue Frishman
Address all correspondence to:
South Jetty Publishing Co.
P.O. Box 1116
Port Aransas, Texas 78373.
Office: 201 E. Cotter Avenue.
Port Aransas, Texas. Phone 749-
6377 and 749-5282.
Display advertising deadline,
Monday, 12 noon, the week of
publication.
The publisher will gladly correct
any erroneous statement regard-
ing corporations, firms, or individ-
uals, when called to his attention.
Second Class Postage is paid at
Port Aransas. Texas.
had checked into just a week ago.
In bold type, it announces
FREE RV PARKING, which
includes free water and trash
pick-up, and that electricity was
free, but was cancelled last week.
Other virtues are a new paved lot
and nearby law enforcement, as
the parking in on County prop-
erty. The flyer tells those interest-
ed to see Ben Cash, the local
Constable, or Charlie Titus,
Cash’s chief investigator on the
force. And there is a further
admonition that one should be a
County employee to qualify for
this apparent windfall. A photo
shows a large, self-contained RV
parked beside the Port Aransas
Law Enforcement Center.
The RV has been on this
location for a number of months,
and recently was observed to be
served by an electrical extension
from the County building.
From all present knowledge,
the RV belongs to Charlie Titus,
and is said to be the one
associated with the missing Ro-
bert Johnson’s escapade’s in
Belize. I also seem to recall that
Central American natives thought
the vehicle to be “taboo” because
once, as the story goes, a murder-
ed senator or congressman (only
coincidence in view of the Ryan
affair) was said to have been
stored in it. with only an arm visi-
ble. sticking out of the refrig-
erator. But this is all beside the
point.
As I was saying, the RV has
been hooked up to the electrical
service of a public building, which
The entire issue is clouded with uncertainties and alleged inaccurate
information on the real cost of the remodeling job.
The facts remain: the City staff acted to stop an apparent violation
of a City ordinance: by seeking a variance, Pemberton agreed that he
was in violation; and the city council, after once refusing the variance,
reversed itself and granted it in the face of possible real harm to the
community.
Council members who were cautious in this matter and sought at
least an opinion from FIA regarding the possible consequences if the
requested variance were granted were Chris Page, A1 Mora and Foy
Stiewig, though Page was the only opposing vote in last week’s action to
grant the variance and retract the information request to FIA. Mora and
Stiewig were not present at the Special Meeting, last Friday afternoon,
in which the variance was granted.
Further confusing, and condemning the actions of the council in this
matter was what Keene referred to as an “agreement” that was made in
a closed council session on October 10, 1978, and that the three other
members who favored the variance also claimed was their guidance in
the matter. It appears that some council members agreed at that time to
grant the Pemberton variance as well as another, which had an entirely
different set of complications and was acknowledged as a “hardship”,
with the theory being that both controversial variances should be
granted, and then the City could begin anew, with a clean slate. A clean
slate appears only to mean that there are no pending variance requests
to the flood elevation ordinance. Page said in last week’s meeting that
the subject was not on the agenda of that meeting, which was stated to
be on the subject of litigation against the City, and that it should not
have even been discussed. But, Keene, Tichy, Fortson and Dreyer all
claimed that they must stick by the agreement. This, in effect has
resulted in a side-stepping of the Open Meeting Act, which requires that
all official decisions of the council be made in public meetings. In this
case, the final action was taken in an open meeting, but, the
acknowledgement is that the four council members were bound by a
decision, right or wrong, that was made in a closed session.
There are some additional sidelights to the entire mess surrounding
this variance request that are noteworthy. First, the City staff has
maintained throughout, and with agreement of the City attorney, that a
variance should not be granted in this case. Second, Vera Fortson, who
has been on the council since September, said that she didn’t “know
enough about the case to vote intelligently”, yet she, too, apparently felt
bound by that “agreement” in the closed session, and voted for the
variance. The builders themselves have, in this case, claimed ignorance
of the building laws at times; have required prodding from the City staff
on this and other jobs to comply with the City building laws; and the
allegation is that they may have provided inaccurate cost figures on the
remodeling of the house in question.
And just for some further interesting information, Pemberton’s wife,
Carolyn, is a principal in the suit alleging the illegality of the new City
Charter. And the Pembertons are now, on a grant of an extension on a
building permit, beginning to build a motel that does not conform with
the City’s Development Performance Standards Ordinance. This is being
allowed because the building permit was sought and purchased just days
before final passage of the ordinance last summer.
What has been laid out above is just a small, disgusting taste of
what is to come in Port Aransas as long as we, the voters, are willing to
let it happen. If the majority of the city council cannot accurately weight
the petty wants of a nose-thumbing developer against the needs of the
community, it is time to replace the majority of the city council.
Continued from page 1
the program for Port Aransas
property owners, especially since
the council had granted four other
flood elevation variances in the
past year. Page also was interest-
ed in determining whether Pem-
berton’s case fit the only valid
reason for granting a variance,
that being the creation of a
“hardship” if a variance were not
granted.
Councilman Keene argued that
an agreement had been made in a
closed meeting last month that
this variance would be granted,
along with one other that has
been granted, and “wipe the slate
clean”. The other one granted, to
Jim Sherrill, was a case in which
survey errors by the builder
resulted in a floor level below the
required elevation. The floor was
elevated ten inches, and later
led me to call Constable Cash a
few days ago, and ask, “What’s
up?” The answer was that Titus
was waiting for an open spot in a
local RV park, and would be
moving the RV from its present
location and circumstances short-
ly. In fact, last Friday, it was
moved, but just for the weekend.
And. by the way, the yellow elec-
trical extension was “cancelled”
just shortly after mv call. Cash
had told me. regarding the ex-
tension, that Charlie just had a
100 watt bulb burning, “in fact,
the extension probably wouldn’t
even pull an air conditioner".
My only conclusion regarding
the whole top-heavy affair is that
it isn’t what you take from the
public - it’s how much.
found to still be below' the
required level, due to another
error in measurement of the
elevation. The council agreed that
Sherrill had made a “good faith”
effort to comply, and additional
raising of the portion of the
structure that was still in violation
would constitute a “hardship”.
Keene’s point was that the City
was in error for not requiring the
proper certification of the surveys,
and if Sherrill’s questionable
variance was granted, then Pem-
berton’s should also be granted,
with no more mistakes to be made
in the future.
Page and councilman Al Mora,
in the November meeting, main-
tained that one case had nothing
to do with the other. The
circumstances of Pemberton’s
building involved no errors, and
no attempt to comply with the
elevation ordinance.
In last week’s meeting, Keene
insisted that the Pemberton case
be treated equally, but was
reminded by Bennett that in the
Sherrill case an opinion from an
FIA representative was sought
and gave the council some surety
in its decision. In the Pemberton
case, the request for an FIA
opinion was being retracted,
resulting in unequal treatment.
Page added, that with the
information he had wanted re-
quested from FIA, he didn’t see
how anyone could think Pember-
ton didn’t get a fair shake.
An additional question further
clouded the issue, regarding the
extent to which the entire
structure had been modified, and
Fly Rod
Records Kept
Taking responsibility for salt-
water fly rod records is part of
IGFA’s expanded program to
become the center of record-keep-
ing activity for all anglers
worldwide. The program got its
start when Field & Stream
magazine turned over its fresh-
water record-keeping system to
IGFA in March 1978.
Mr. Fred Schrier, founder and
chairman of Salt Water Fly
Rodders, headquartered in Cape
May, New Jersey, stated that the
organization has been maintaining
records over the years as a service
to anglers, and that their main
interest is to promote the sport of
fly fishing. “At this point in
time,” said Schrier, “we felt that
the records would receive more
international participation and in-
terest if they were maintained by
a larger and more diverse
organization such as the IGFA.”
IGFA plans to publish the first
official lists of current saltwater
fly rod world records and fresh-
water all-tackle records in the
1979 edition of its annual World
Record Game Fishes book.
whether the whole house should
have been required to be eleva-
ted. Appraisals developed by the
City staff and bills presented by
Pemberton, according to Bennett,
were sufficient to indicate to the
staff that the extent of remodeling
was such that a variance would be
required. Keene said that there
was some question of whether the
staff opinion was correct, and
suggested that the matter be
dropped completely, thus elimina-
ting the need for a variance that
must be reported to FIA as part of
the City’s compliance with the
regulations. Bennett answered
that Pemberton had requested a
variance and only he could
withdraw that request. Pemberton
was not present at the meeting.
Bennett added that ducking the
issue this wav could really get the
City in hot water with FIA. Mayor
Dreyer agreed with Bennett on
this point, adding that Port
Aransas can’t afford to lose this
flood insurance program.
Tichy, in making the motion to
retract the opinion request to FIA
and grant the variance said that
he wanted to “get out from under
this” and avoid a possible law
suit - and then, “don’t grant any
more variances”. Page’s position
remained that each variance
request needs to be examined on
its merits, and the goal should be
to avoid harm to the citizens of
the community. A loss of the flood
insurance program, according to
Page, would be harmful to the
City.
Vera Fortson, appointed to the
council in September to fill the
seventh council seat as required
by the new City Charter, said, “I
didn’t know enough about it to
vote intelligently”, adding in
agreement with Keene and Tichy,
that the “slate should be clean-
ed”.
Before the council vote, Bennett
explained that the insurance
program requirements were not
aimed at the homeowner who
wished to make small repairs, but
rather were meant to give an
added safety factor to new
construction and buildings that
were being extensively remodeled
for purposes of sale. Pemberton’s
house, the subject of this variance
request, was intended for sale at
the outset, according to an earlier
statement by Luther, and is now
for sale.
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Frishman, Steve. Port Aransas South Jetty (Port Aransas, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 7, 1978, newspaper, December 7, 1978; Port Aransas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth623397/m1/2/?q=%22%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Ellis Memorial Library.