[MB]

It looks like there will be a New Marina in Freeport after all !!

Check out this link from June 7th: http://www.marinaassociation.org/news2.cfm?NewsID=1478

How many Boats do you think will be leaving Bridge Harbor for the new slips ??

:an2:

http://www.marinaassociation.org/news2.cfm?NewsID=1478

BE SMART !

BE SAFE !!

LET'S GO FISHING !!!

MB

 

[agulhas]

what is going on with the old unicol doc. looks like they were moving earth last month and then stopped. mark, david?

 

[Bueno Suerte]

It will be nice to have a new marina, but I just cant go along with the government seizing one individual's private property and giving it to developers in order to increase the tax base.

Now everyone who owns coastal property will live in fear that some city council will decide that their land should be seized and given to a developer and turned into a marina/condo/highrise.

It is just not right.

"However, the process has faced opposition from some residents and land owners, who have said the city has no right to take their property through eminent domain. The city currently is locked in litigation for property owned by Western Seafood on the Old Brazos River."

 

[Argo]

It has happend many times in the past and will happen again.

 

[jtburf]

what is going on with the old unicol doc. looks like they were moving earth last month and then stopped. mark, david?

This is the City Dock up near the Big E area!!!!

It was made public right after the law passed for Immeniant Domain....

John

 

[Rojo Runner]

They (Royall or Freeport) do not have the land yet. They are talking like they are going on with the project though. A new marina is going in at Surfside in the coming months, it's going to be located where East Union Bayou meets the Intracoastal, which is exactly what the area needs.

Freeport needs to give up on the dream and face reality, it is an industrial town with a large port. It is NOT a vacation town.

 

[manintheboat]

A full service marina could be a very good deal for Freeport. I do not see why they cannot be succesful there. They also are a little better insulated against a storm being behind the guillatine, so that might be a better selling point for some folks. One good storm and the new marina in surfside and IMS are history.

 

[spec]

the battle I think is uphill for the opposition....this is from a year ago. The best chance was for the public to vote to abolish the EDC and they didnt. It will be good for Freeport, you can't hold it against someone to fight for their business but it will be tough to stop progress. This is from a year ago and I think a decision from the 5th circuit will come back in a couple of months.

Houston Chronicle | June 28 2005
By THAYER EVANS
​

FREEPORT - With Thursday's Supreme Court decision, Freeport officials instructed attorneys to begin preparing legal documents to seize three pieces of waterfront property along the Old Brazos River from two seafood companies for construction of an $8 million private boat marina.

The court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that cities may bulldoze people's homes or businesses to make way for shopping malls or other private development. The decision gives local governments broad power to seize private property to generate tax revenue.

"This is the last little piece of the puzzle to put the project together," Freeport Mayor Jim Phillips said of the project designed to inject new life in the Brazoria County city's depressed downtown area.

Over the years, Freeport's lack of commercial and retail businesses has meant many of its 13,500 residents travel to neighboring Lake Jackson, which started as a planned community in 1943, to spend money. But the city is hopeful the marina will spawn new economic growth.

"This will be the engine that will drive redevelopment in the city," City Manager Ron Bottoms said.

Lee Cameron, director of the city's Economic Development Corp., said the marina is expected to attract $60 million worth of hotels, restaurants and retail establishments to the city's downtown area and create 150 to 250 jobs.

He said three hotels, two of which have "high interest," have contacted the city about building near the marina.

"It's all dependent on the marina," Cameron said. "Without the marina, (the hotels) aren't interested. With the marina, (the hotels) think it's a home run."

Since September 2003, the city has been locked in a legal battle to acquire a 300-by-60-foot tract of land along the Old Brazos River near the Pine Street bridge as well as a 200-foot tract and 100-foot tract along the river through eminent domain from Western Seafood Co. and Trico Seafood Co.

Eminent domain is the right of a government to take private property for public use upon payment of the fair market value.

The tracts of land would be used for a planned 800- to 900-slip marina to be built by Freeport Marina, a group that that includes Dallas developer Hiram Walker Royall. He would buy the property from the city and receive a $6 million loan from the city to develop the project.

Freeport Marina would then invest $1 million in the project and contribute a 1,100-foot tract of land, valued at $750,000, to it before receiving the loan.

Western Seafood spokesman Wright Gore III said the wholesale shrimp company was disappointed with the Supreme Court decision, but believes the ruling does not apply to the city's eminent domain proceedings.

He said there is a provision in state law that allows residents of a city to a circulate a petition to call a vote on whether the city can take property using eminent domain.

"(This) is far, far from over," Gore said. "(We) would have liked to have seen a victory on the federal level, but it is by no means a settled issue."

Gore said Western Seafood's 30,000-square-foot processing facility, which sits on the 300-by-60-foot tract, would be forced to close if the land were seized.

That facility earns about $40 million annually, and Western Seafood has been in business in Freeport since 1946, he said.

City officials, however, have said the marina will still allow Western Seafood and Trico Seafood, which did not return telephone calls or e-mail Thursday, to operate their facilities.

In August, U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent ruled against a lawsuit filed by Western Seafood seeking to stop the city's eminent domain proceedings. The seafood company then appealed its case to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, a request that initially was denied.

The appeals court then decided it would take the case, but not rule on it until after the Supreme Court made a ruling on the New London, Conn., case.

 

[MEGABITE]

Surfside is getting their own marina as well. I think right across the ICW from Bridge
Bait. The difference is they didn't have to steal anybody's land or make any
shady 4 million dollar lending deals to the developer.

 

[proteus]

We're working on it and trying to keep our sanity and families, while keeping our day jobs. A lot of the front end work requires that we wait for engineers, electricians, architects, builders and other professionals vital to the final design, permitting, development and beginning of construction to complete their respective projects and prepare and deliver reports, surveys, etc. for us to plug in to the final design and construction docs, etc. and make the next move. Essentially that it where we are now. Shoudn't be much longer now before actual construction begins. David and I are very interested in begining the construction as soon as we can while being diligent and doing all we need to do up front so we can hopefully avoid problems down the road.

Lots of moving parts also takes lots of work and time.

Hope this explains status. Thanks for the interest.

Proteus, a/k/a Marc

 

[Popeye]

One Word

MINGO!!!:an6:

 

[TexasDux]

How many Boats do you think will be leaving Bridge Harbor for the new slips ??

10 replies and not one answer to the original question? I think you should include how many will consider leaving Kirby also.

I think it will depend on the cost of the slips, covered/uncovered, slings, are any of the covered large enough for sportfishers with outriggers?

 

[spec]

I don't have a boat at either Bridge Harbor or Kirby but what would be the incentive to relocate across the ICW, aside from cost alone. If you have a boat at bridge harbor and if the facilities are adequate it would have to be a significant price change to cause you to move. Right?

Proteus you sound like you are directly involved in the surfside marina project. Aside from the actual boat slips what else is going to be part of the surfside project? If you are at liberty to say.

 

[Dutch Treat]

10 replies and not one answer to the original question? I think you should include how many will consider leaving Kirby also.

I think it will depend on the cost of the slips, covered/uncovered, slings, are any of the covered large enough for sportfishers with outriggers?

All that want to, I don't have a crystal ball .......but not everyone will be interested in the Old River location or dry stack storage.

Let's face it, despite all the effort to completely destroy the place through neglect and Pi**ing off everyone who tries to deal with the "Harbormaster", it is still the closest "full service" (when operated properly) marina to the Gulf in this part of the world.

All Bridge Harbor needs is ownership that cares, and a few million in repairs and upgrades.

A friend of mine says that eventually someone will come along with deep enough pockets to buy the joint and rebuild it and operate it as it should be. Of course he has been saying that for about fifteen years now! LOL

It will truly be interesting to see how, if any, of all this plays out. One of us is not going to hold his breath! :biggrin:

Bob

 

[TexasDux]

......and if the facilities are adequate it would have to be a significant price change to cause you to move. Right?

Like BH only having #120 of ice the day of a scheduled tournament?

 

[lordbater]

Surfside is getting their own marina as well. I think right across the ICW from Bridge
Bait. The difference is they didn't have to steal anybody's land or make any
shady 4 million dollar lending deals to the developer.

But, I understand they won't have a boat ramp, so we'll still have to deal with all the ramp-monkeys camping out all weekend at BB.

a

 

[manintheboat]

I will probably look, but if Rip is succesful installing credit card readers at the gas pumps, I will be pretty happy where I am.

 

[spec]

That's the kind of thing I was wondering. I grew up and live in that area and have seen BH deteriorate from the perspective of someone who doesnt have a boat there. It wasn't too many years ago we could go out and eat and hang out at the pool there. It just doesnt seem that way anymore. I didnt know if from someone who has a slip there if it was happening from the that side too.

 

[agulhas]

we are talking about 2 diff new marinas in this thread. it started as the new freeport project and then i kind of hijacked it so i could try and find out if the private marina at the old unicol dock is still in process. proteus is involved in the unicol project.

 

[gusandtex]

It is somewhat ironic that it was Wright Gore Sr., the owner of Western Seafood who stepped up and wrote a check for $250,000.00 to build the flood control gate (guillitine gate) many years ago when the Navigation District did not have the money to build it. He never asked for a dime of the money to be repaid. Now it is that very gate that makes the waterfront property where the Gore family has run a business for 50 years such an attractive target for a forgetfull, ungratefull city and a greedy developer.

The appeal was argued before a three Judge panel at the Fifth Circut on the 7th of this month.

The fat lady has not sung yet.