Critics Say Galveston Development Plans Are Dangerous

[Double L]

From the Austin American-Statesman

http://www.statesman.com/news/conten...galveston.html

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

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.

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 Galveston Bay.

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.