Critics say Galveston development plans are dangerous
New homes, hotel being built on ridge that some say protects island.
By Miguel Bustillo
LOS ANGELES TIMES
Monday, June 25, 2007
GALVESTON — Leaders of this fast-eroding barrier island, the scene of the deadliest hurricane in American history, are about to approve nearly 4,000 homes and two midrise hotels despite geologists' warnings that the massive development would sever a ridge that serves as the island's natural storm shield.
Galveston officials and the developer maintain that the plans are sound for the largest development in city history and that geologists are placing too much significance on the ridge in question, if it exists at all.
Critics of the plans say that Galveston's officials are ignoring the lessons of science and history in their pursuit of tax money and that in considering the building plan, the officials have ignored the very geological map the city commissioned to guide development.
The three geologists who conducted the study cautioned against building along beaches that probably will be erased by erosion within 20 years. They warned that artificial lakes and boat channels could help surging waters pierce the island during a major hurricane, possibly even splitting it in two.
They recommended that the city preserve a low-lying ridge hundreds of feet inland, saying that although the rise might look meaningless to untrained eyes, it has helped the island withstand centuries of storms.
Most of Galveston's planning commissioners signed off on the project last week. The City Council is expected to approve it this year.
City officials "are choosing not to see anything that gets in the way of their precious tax dollars," said study co-author Tim Dellapenna, an assistant professor of marine geology at TexasA&MUniversity.
The master-planned community, including a marina and possibly a golf course, would span more than 1,000 acres from the Gulf of Mexico shoreline to the backside overlooking GalvestonBay.
It would urbanize a large swath of the island's sparsely developed center and would lie outside a concrete seawall that protects the older section of the city from storm surges, a barrier built because of a deadly lesson in 1900.
About 8,000 people died then when a hurricane-fueled wall of water washed over Galveston, destroying what was Texas' largest city and one of the leading mercantile centers in the South.
It remains the worst natural disaster in national history in terms of lives lost.
Determined to overcome nature, Galveston used tons of dredged sand to raise the entire city's elevation and erected the 17-foot seawall, which now extends along the southeastern shoreline for 10 miles.
The island's West End is in the midst of a development boom. Palatial weekend homes on stilts sell for as much as $2 million and are fast replacing the modest shacks of old. In the past year, property values have risen 24 percent.
Scientists estimate that Galveston is moving about one quarter-inch closer to the water every year because of rising sea levels and a slow sinking of the surface caused by oil extraction. The West End, unprotected by the seawall and just a few feet above sea level, is especially vulnerable.
"This is one of the most rapidly eroding portions of the U.S. coast," Dellapenna said.