Word: waterers
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...South Padre's assets, the greatest is its beach, wide and powdery, running from the sprouting condominiums to the sea. In Texas, unlike many resort areas, the beaches belong to the people. A person may own land to the water's edge but may not fence offer build on the beach itself. Virtually everybody in South Padre supports that concept. Says Lilljedahl: "Without these fine beaches for people to use, we're nothing but a pile of sand...
...last May the state attorney general's office "descended" on the town, as some locals put it, and began forcing developers to build farther back from the sea. Previously, buildings had been allowed as close as 200 ft. from the water. Now construction can take place only up to the line where natural vegetation meets the beach. This strict enforcement of the state's open beaches law has led to heated disputes over where the nebulous vegetation line actually lies. Says Lilljedahl: "It's been a state of chaos...
Former Mayor Austin, who is now a local real estate broker, describes what happened when he went with an assistant state attorney general to a site bought by a Canadian developer. "I was standing more than 200 ft. from the water. I thought this was the point we could start building. But this young fuzzy-cheeked assistant A.G. was way up in the dunes, maybe 30 ft. behind me. 'What the hell you doing up there?' I asked. He says, 'I'm looking for the vegetation line...
...planned. Most developers wish the state would simply decree a building line. But the attorney general's office insists that because the shoreline is eroding, it is impossible to establish a permanent line, and developers should be kept as far back from the water as the law dictates...
...Marston walks along the beach, he points out a sea wall, once well back from the water, now torn apart by the waves. His office tries to work out accommodations with builders who have encroached on the beach or who find the receding beach threatening their structures. "We're not into tearing down expensive buildings," says Marston. "We try to negotiate equitable arrangements. In two instances where we felt developers were building too close to the sea and encroaching on public beach, we had them buy adjoining lots and donate them for public use, rather than forcing them...