Galveston hopes to own East End Flats by 2046

GALVESTON — Galveston could get ownership of 605 acres of federally owned land on the island’s far East End by 2046, perhaps earlier, according to a new plan approved by council members.

“At least we have a date,” City Manager Steve LeBlanc said. “It’s a long way off, but we’ve never had a date before.”

City council members last week directed LeBlanc to work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on a plan to transfer ownership of the East End Flats to the city as soon as the corps and the Port of Galveston no longer need the land to dump material dredged from the bottom of the Houston and Galveston ship channels during the ongoing deepening of the two channels.

Galveston officials have been trying for years to develop the site, the largest vacant tract of land left behind the seawall. In September, the Redevelopment Authority terminated an agreement with land developer Sullivan Interests under which the company would have lobbied the federal government to release the land to Galveston in exchange for the first right of refusal to develop the land.

The authority’s termination of the Sullivan agreement sent city officials back to the drawing board to figure out a new strategy to gain ownership of the large swathe of raw land.

LeBlanc has been working since October with councilwoman Elizabeth Beeton, a critic of the Sullivan agreement, to get the East End Flats released to Galveston.

Last week, LeBlanc suggested the city work within the parameters of a 50-year corps’ plan, the Dredge Material Management Plan, to obtain the land sometime as early as 2016 and as late as 2046, at no cost to the city instead of hiring lobbyists and seeking legislation to override the plan and obtain the East End Flats immediately.

The first phase of the corps’ plan calls for the corps to use the East End Flats until 2016 to dump 40 percent of the material dredged from the Houston and Galveston ship channels.

The remaining 60 percent is dumped on Pelican Island.

The second phase of the plan calls for the corps to use the land through 2046, if necessary, to dump dredge spoils.

Col. David Weston, of the Galveston corps, said eventually the East End Flats would become so full of dredge spoils that the corps no longer would be able to dump there.

There is a limit to how high the corps can build levees to contain the material and, eventually, the corps will have to find another place to put the dredge spoils, leaving the land available for Galveston to use as it sees fit, Weston said.

The Galveston corps supports plans to transfer the land to Galveston no later than 2046, Weston said.

The corps also is agreeable to immediately opening up areas of the site for recreational uses, such as kayaking, fishing and birding, Weston said.

Anglers often fish from the shore of the East End Flats that overlooks the ship channel, though they aren’t authorized to do so, LeBlanc said.

The corps supports authorizing fishing and, if possible, coordinating with the developers of the East End Lagoon Nature Preserve, the tract of land across Seawall Boulevard from the East End Flats now under development, to provide a destination for nature tourists.

By working with the corps to obtain the land through the course of several years, instead of lobbying for the immediate release of the land, Galveston is taking a cooperative approach instead of a confrontational approach, LeBlanc said.

By continuing to allow dredge spoils to be dumped in the East End Flats, the city also is saving the port from spending money to find an alternate location to dump dredge spoils, LeBlanc said.

Putting the plan on a longer track also allows Galveston officials to gather public input and conduct some long-term planning on what should happen to the land, LeBlanc said.

Particularly after Hurricane Ike in 2008, which left the city in financial straits, Galveston lacks the financial strength to shell out the kind of money necessary to make the land usable by draining the land and solidifying the unstable spoils, LeBlanc said.

The Sullivans estimated that process would cost $75 million.

As such, the city likely will have to ultimately partner with a developer to make the land usable, LeBlanc said.