Hundreds of beach houses on the gulf coast of Texas may soon be declared illegal and seized under a state law that prohibits houses from being built (or remaining) between a beach's high and low tide marks. Hurricane Ike's 12-foot storm surge and 100-mile-per-hour winds severely eroded many Texas beaches and redrew the tide lines enough that even many beach houses that survived the hurricane intact could be seized by the state under the law and eventually be returned to beach. Texas officials said it would be about a year or more before they decide for sure which houses violate the law, but homeowners whose beachfront houses were damaged or completely destroyed said that the uncertainty of whether their house will be seized is already making them rethink expensive repairs. Experts say that simply repairing the beaches isn't possible; even if tons of sand were trucked in, it would all wash away in a year or so. "We're talking about damn fools that have built houses on the edge of the sea for as long as man could remember and against every advice anyone has given," said the former state senator who wrote the 1959 Texas Open Beaches Act.
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source: Associated Press
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catman Posted 9:27 am
22 Sep 2008
The dunes and marshes will return.
If we can bailout Wall St., we can save the coastal environment and ecosystem.
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Sam Wells Posted 12:45 pm
22 Sep 2008
Well there's no beach and no vegetation line in many places, especially on Bolivar Peninsula.
Only two other states, have such a forceful law as TOBA, that requires public access to the beach, and essentially makes the beach up to the vegetation line a public easement. It's going to take a while to sort out what to do in light of Hurricane Ike.
So the commenter above, I'm baffled by the claim that (a) it should be illegal to rebuild even if legal under TOBA, and (b) that somehow the marches and swamps would miraculously come back. Katrina showed up that a hurricane can tear up miles and miles of swamp and barrier island environment. Nothing comes back. It's just underwater.
Many do want to rethink coastal development in light of Ike, however, a very healthy thing. What many enviros fear, on the other hand, is that is the TOBA is opened up for revision, it would be gutted by "all those rich people." -sam
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