Gov. Rick Perry said Friday he has not made any conclusions about a bill that contains a provision exempting property owners on the Hurricane Ike devastated Bolivar Peninsula from a state law preventing building on the public beach.
An East Texas lawmaker who helped craft the provision would be among those who would benefit from it.
Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson continued asking Perry to veto the bill. Patterson said it is bad public policy to allow houses to be built on the public beach and that the vacation home of Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, should not be exempt from the Texas Open Beaches Act.
Patterson said the provision would allow Christian to rebuild his Crystal Beach vacation home — valued at $187,300 before it was wiped away by Hurricane Ike in September — even if it’s on the public beach.
But Christian said Patterson’s accusations about benefiting from the legislation are unfounded.
Christian contends the bill will actually protect the beach and at the same time allow residents affected by Ike to rebuild.
“He’s throwing a mad fit. For some reason he has gone berserk on this thing,” said Christian, who kept referring to Patterson as “Czar Patterson.” “It’s wrong to make this devastated community hold off on development.”
The Texas Open Beaches Act prevents building on the public beach.
Ike severely eroded the beach, placing many properties on the beach that were not there before the storm.
Any homes seaward of the natural line of vegetation, which marks the boundary of the public beach, can’t be rebuilt. Ike wiped out the line of vegetation on the peninsula, and the land office has not set the new line of vegetation.
For now, the state is allowing homes 41/2 feet above sea level or higher to be rebuilt.
“Every time a transaction occurs on the coast, there’s a disclaimer that says your property is subject to the rolling easement if the beach erodes,” Patterson said before holding a news conference in Galveston.
“Christian and all the others were warned this could happen and elected to go forward. Now they are saying that didn’t mean anything. They are trying to say, ‘I don’t care what I signed. It doesn’t apply to me.’”
Groups that advocate for open beaches are also asking Perry to veto the bill.
But Christian said the provision adheres to the temporary 41/2-foot rule Patterson’s office has set up for the Bolivar Peninsula and the other parts of Galveston County affected by Ike.
Patterson has threatened to ignore the provision exempting the Bolivar beach homes if the bill is signed by Perry.
During a visit to Houston, Perry said his office is still studying the bill, one of 1,400 coming across his desk after the latest legislative session.
“I can’t respond to the land commissioner’s remarks,” Perry said after being asked about Patterson’s statement that he won’t enforce the provision related to Bolivar. “To be making some pronouncements without that additional study would be premature.
Perry said Texas is very sensitive to the issue of people’s private property rights versus the government’s right to come in and take land over.
“That gets down to the base of this piece of legislation,” he said. “Until we’ve had a chance to look at all the legal ramifications, particularly the constitutional side of it, I’ll just say we’re quite aware of it.”
Christian said he does not know yet if he will rebuild his vacation home, which he has had for about 14 years.
His property line is touching the temporary 41/2-foot line set up by Patterson’s office, which means at this point he could not rebuild, Jim Suydam, a spokesman for the land office, said.
But Christian previously has said the provision he helped add to the bill was not improper and that it benefited other peninsula property owners and therefore was not a breach of ethics.
The amendment was approved just before the legislative session ended Monday as part of a bill extending homestead exemptions to homes destroyed by Hurricane Ike until they can be rebuilt.
Christian, who does not represent Bolivar or any coastal community, was on the conference committee that signed off on the bill but did not author it.
