South Jetty Article / 3-20-14 Port Authority sticks to its decision on Harbor Island Dan Parker Reporter The Port Authority of Corpus Christi is sticking to its decision to hold off on selling or leasing its land on Harbor Island even after businessman Kenneth Berry, acting as an intermediary, recently brought forth a company’s $26.2 million offer for the property. The company wanted the 254-acre tract because it was interested in building an industrial development that would have conformed with the more restrictive zoning recently imposed on Harbor Island by the City of Port Aransas, Berry said. Berry wouldn’t identify the company to a South Jetty reporter, but he said he had no financial stake in the would-be deal. He said the company approached him as a go-between several weeks ago because port staff wasn’t taking meetings on the subject of selling or leasing the Harbor Island land. “I said, ‘Hey, I know how to pitch your deal,’ ” Berry commented. Berry said he went to a port staff member who in turn relayed the company’s proposal to the port commission during a Feb. 11 session that was closed to the public. It was understood that the $26.2 million offer would be subject to the public bid process, as required by law, and represented the minimum amount to be tendered, Berry said . When the commission emerged into open session, Hawley asked commissioners if any of them were interested in approving the request. No one expressed interest. Berry later wrote a letter to Hawley on March 5. “Is there any ‘acceptable’ price or set of conditions whereby the port would rescind its vote to ‘not take any action’ and sell Harbor Island and/ or entertain offers?” the letter asked, in part. Hawley replied, but she didn’t directly answer Berry’s question. Her letter pointed out that commissioners voted on Jan. 23 to suspend the port authority’s marketing efforts to sell or lease the Harbor Island property. She also noted that commissioners expressed no interest after Berry made them aware of the third-party offer of $26.2 million. “The port commission and staff will comply with the statutes that govern the sale of port property if, in the future, the commission decides to sell its Harbor Island property,” Hawley wrote at the conclusion of the five-sentence letter. The port should have seen the $26.2 million offer as a good one and started a public bidding process, Berry said in an interview. Other companies, he said, could have bid more and purchased the land. Or the company with the $26.2 million bid could have upped their offer, outbidding other companies, he said. “This is not the port’s personal property to keep for themselves, to the detriment of the region,” said Berry, who once served as a port commissioner in Corpus Christi. “They have an obligation here, to the economic engine here, to bring business to our area, and if business is coming to the area to invest in property, what justification does the port have to not even take a meeting, not even listen to an offer? “There is no justification,” Berry said. “They are public servants. They do not personally own this (land). If you’re living in Port Aransas, they are denying the opportunity for Port Aransas to increase its tax base. … They are the gatekeeper, and they’ve closed the gate and gone to the bar.” Berry said the port’s refusal to entertain the company’s offer was “naked aggression” toward Port Aransas. He said the port is angry that the city rezoned the land. Commissioner Charlie Zahn said, “That’s the farthest thing from the truth.” Zahn, a longtime Port Aransas resident, said commissioners didn’t act on the proposal brought by Berry because the port still is in the process of determining the “highest and best use” of the port’s Harbor Island land. Hawley said the port is taking a step back and incorporating Harbor Island into the port’s strategic plan. “It makes sense to just take a step back and look at the best possible uses for that very valuable piece of industrial land and how we best can serve our mission as a port, being an economic catalyst, creating jobs and supporting the maritime industry of the Coastal Bend,” Hawley said. “We’re really evaluating the Harbor Island property in light of what our mission is. … There’s no need to respond to a proposal for a quick sale at a lower price.” As part of a strategic plan commissioners adopted in December, the port is working on determining the best use for all of its property, not just Harbor Island, Zahn said. “We want to be sure that, when we do go out and sell or lease that land, we are getting the maximum amount of revenue from it we think we are entitled to,” he said. Harbor Island development became a hot topic after the port tried to sell its property there for $34 million to the Martin Midstream company in fall last year. The port rescinded its offer to sell the land after Berry’s firm, called The Berry Company, filed a lawsuit alleging that the sale process wasn’t fair to other potential buyers. The port said the attempted sale was conducted properly but pulled out anyway. Around the same time, numerous Port Aransans and people with second homes in town began worrying that Martin Midstream’s plans could have resulted in an industrial presence that would have produced air, water, noise and light pollution. It eventually came to light that the company planned to build a plant that would process Eagle Ford condensate and light crude oil in two 50,000 barrels per day “splitters,” producing naptha, jet fuel, diesel fuel and fuel oil. The company also wanted to install a natural gas liquids fractionator to produce propane, butane and natural gasoline. Port Aransans called on the city council to do something to prevent such a development from ever occurring on Harbor Island. The council, city staff and city-hired consultants began a weeks-long rezoning effort to prevent the most obnoxious kinds of industry from ever locating on Harbor Island. Martin Midstream and the port authority opposed the city’s efforts to rezone the property. The city’s work culminated with the council voting 7-0 on Feb. 20 to approve a third and final reading of an ordinance to rezone portions of Harbor Island within the city limits so no refineries or similar plants can be built there. The new zoning allows for a variety of uses, many of them industrial.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 20:48:45 +0000
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