CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — On Tuesday, June 23 council members at City Hall voted to move forward on the North Beach canal project.
This was the second and final reading of the measure to hire the firm Lockwood, Andrews, and Newman to conduct a feasibility study and to design the canal.
The hope is that the canal will help with drainage issues on north beach. The cost is just over half a million dollars.
Mayor Joe McComb expressed concern during today's discussion as to why the money is coming from the city's storm water reserve fund and whether it would mean a rate hike for tax payers. The city manager explained it would not.
"The funding we are using is from other capital projects where we had a balance left over from 2013, 2015 projects? Yes that is correct. So this isn't impacting any operating budgets we currently have or in the future." Said City Councilman Gil Hernandez.
Mayor Joe McComb and council member Greg Smith both voted no on the measure.
The phase one work is expected to be completed by December of this year.
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED AT THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING ON JUNE 16:
At city hall today, city council members gave the green light on the next steps for the North Beach Canal Project.
Council awarded a first reading agreement to the firm Lockwood, Andrews and Newman Incorporated to design the canal and see if the project is feasible.
In December, the council authorized the construction of a canal on North Beach that could lead to the revitalization of that area and help with flooding.
"Our concern was flooding, so the findings that we hopefully get from this, we'll learn some things," Everett Roy with District 1 said. "We'll have a better idea and make sure we do the right things for our taxpayers."
The first phase of the design project is expected to cost just over half a million dollars. This money will come from the city's storm water reserve fund. Phase one work is expected to be completed by December 2020.
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