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Pelican Island Question

J.A.S.O.N.

By J.A.S.O.N.
in Galveston and the Gulf Islands

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Lowbrow

Lowbrow

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Being a dredge spit doesn't help when trying to draw in developers. The mosquitos alone would keep me from considering living there. I know that back in the 90's they let the 3 mosquito populations thrive there while spraying elsewhere as a control to keep the species Galveston-wide from becoming immune to the insecticides.

That picture is a bit dated, there are some more dorms now in the top right corner.. and don't they have a new vessel? I lived in the top long dorm ("C Dorm") for most of 1988 and then the next two years in one of the smaller dorms just to the left of it ("A Dorm" .... Very creative).

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J.A.S.O.N.

J.A.S.O.N.

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Yeah Lowbrow, there is also an apartment complex out there now. BP said their plans to build the LNG containers on Pelican Island are shelved for now. I wonder how Galveston sitting in front of the island effects flooding during a storm? I think it would be a mistake, (with all developable land now sold in Galveston) to dedicate the entire island to industrial use. With adequate infrastructure in place, could see some hell of a neighborhoods on that island :blush:

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TheNiche

TheNiche

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Yeah Lowbrow, there is also an apartment complex out there now. BP said their plans to build the LGN containers on Pelican Island are shelved for now. I wonder how Galveston sitting in front of the island effects flooding during a storm? I think it would be a mistake, (with all developable land now sold in Galveston) to dedicate the entire island to industrial use. With adequate infrastructure in place, could see some hell of a neighborhoods on that island :blush:

Of course, we could always hand the whole thing over to Tilman Fertitta and let him build an amusement park on par with Disney World, complete with high-speed water taxi shuttle service to the Kemah Boardwalk. Legalize gambling in Galveston in return, and you just KNOW he'd do it.

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FilioScotia

FilioScotia

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Yeah Lowbrow, there is also an apartment complex out there now. BP said their plans to build the LNG containers on Pelican Island are shelved for now. I wonder how Galveston sitting in front of the island effects flooding during a storm? I think it would be a mistake, (with all developable land now sold in Galveston) to dedicate the entire island to industrial use. With adequate infrastructure in place, could see some hell of a neighborhoods on that island :blush:

As I see it, the biggest negative about living on Pelican Island is that it sits only about six inches above sea level. A storm surge of only a few feet would inundate Pelican Island and every dwelling that's not more than five or six feet above sea level. Speaking just for myself, I don't want to live in an area where that can happen, and I don't believe anyone else wants to either.

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J.A.S.O.N.

J.A.S.O.N.

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As I see it, the biggest negative about living on Pelican Island is that it sits only about six inches above sea level. A storm surge of only a few feet would inundate Pelican Island and every dwelling that's not more than five or six feet above sea level. Speaking just for myself, I don't want to live in an area where that can happen, and I don't believe anyone else wants to either.

What about the university buildings, apartment complex, and dorms that sit there now? How did they get around this problem?

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Lowbrow

Lowbrow

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In my 3 years on Pelican Island we had knee deep water across the campus twice. I spent one storm swimming around the ship channel trying to get all our sail club boats back (not my brightest moment).

In the dorms we were allowed only pets that could swim. :) A roomate tried to build scuba gear for his guinea pig.

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BigJoeTX

BigJoeTX

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As I see it, the biggest negative about living on Pelican Island is that it sits only about six inches above sea level. A storm surge of only a few feet would inundate Pelican Island and every dwelling that's not more than five or six feet above sea level. Speaking just for myself, I don't want to live in an area where that can happen, and I don't believe anyone else wants to either.

I'm long time reader, first time poster. Great forum by the way.

Anyway, I was born and raised in Galveston and attended TAMUG for three years (2001-2004) before deciding that maritime industry wouldn't be for me. Six inches above sea level is a gross exaggeration, I would guess that the campus of TAMUG itself is about 10-12 above sea level. I lived in Galveston when Hurricane Claudette hit and went around taking pictures during the height of the storm. According to the National Hurricane Center report from Claudette, storm tides in the Galveston-Freeport area were 6-9 feet above mean low water. I can tell you without question that the water was nowhere near threatening any building on the TAMUG campus. The knee deep water on campus that the above poster was referring to may have been as a result of rain water? I can remember wearing flip-flops on days when it rained because you would get your shoes wet from the puddling water.

DCP19635_small.jpg

That is the small boat basin at TAMUG during Hurricane Claudette. I'm sorry for the bad quality and lack of detail, I took this picture back before I got hardcore into photography. Anyway, the small boat basin is exactly what the name says. Those buildings to the right are some kind of storage sheds and the body of water in the background is the Galveston Ship Channel. I took the picture from my car on a road that leads down the boat basin. You can see the road is flooded, but it also slopes down quite a bit from the point that I took the picture. The main part of campus was behind me in the picture, so you can see the water was no where near threatening it, seeing as how I could drive there without a problem. (and I have a Toyota Camry)

As for Pelican Island, its an interesting place to explore. Before I got my Camry I had a 4WD Jeep Cherokee and there are numerous trails that run all over Pelican Island. I would seriously advise that if you go exploring that you do it in a 4WD, if its even the slightest bit muddy you can get stuck and the area is quite remote.

PelicanIsland.jpg

I'll try my best to explain whats in the image...

The bottom southwest corner of the island is the campus of Texas A&M - Galveston. I've explored the area north of Seawolf Parkway. You can see the trails in the image. The large dark areas on the top of the image are the spoil ponds. You are very very wrong when you say Pelican Island is only 6 inches above sea level. Those spoil ponds themselves are, from my guess, 40-50 feet above sea level. I checked out a 1994 topo map and its pretty clear that even just in the last 10 years the area has changed a lot. When you go north from Seawolf Parkway on any of the trails you hit an old levee which is probably about 20 feet high, you can drive up this levee and continue all the way back to the current spoil ponds. I would guess Pelican Island is anywhere from 10-50 feet in elevation depending on where you are exactly. I have no doubt its one the highest spots in Galveston County.

I think it would be ideal for development since homes wouldn't need to be raised on stilts and the land is already filled in. I've always speculated as to why it was never developed, I just assumed because it was built entirely from ship channel spoil there may have been environmental or land subsidence issues? I have no idea though, maybe someone else can help with that.

When I go back to Galveston over the Thanksgiving break I'll try to get some pictures.

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J.A.S.O.N.

J.A.S.O.N.

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You have enlightened me on Pelican Island. Could this be the next hot spot? Endeavor III and IV. ;)

Gosh, I hope not. I'd like to see middle income to upper middle income neighborhoods. The second home market now occupies the seawall, west end, and downtown Galveston. Hopefully we could use P.I. to draw some of those Texas City refinery families and "displaced" Galvestonians now calling the mainland home :P .

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TheNiche

TheNiche

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Gosh, I hope not. I'd like to see middle income to upper middle income neighborhoods. The second home market now occupies the seawall, west end, and downtown Galveston. Hopefully we could use P.I. to draw some of those Texas City refinery families and "displaced" Galvestonians now calling the mainland home :P .

Yeah, this is probably the most politically-viable ground for the construction of Tax Credit and Section 8 apartments. But I'd still prefer to see Disneyland - Galveston on this site.

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plumber2

plumber2

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Please, no more Section 8 either! :(

The land on the north side of Pelican Island is too unstable for development. The Corps of Enginers uses it for dredge spoil. I've been stuck to the hubs in a Jeep Cherokee also riding aroung back there. All the land on the Galveston Ship channel side is set aside for industrial. Not much fo residential landscape.

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RedScare

RedScare

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The land on the north side of Pelican Island is too unstable for development. The Corps of Enginers uses it for dredge spoil. I've been stuck to the hubs in a Jeep Cherokee also riding aroung back there. All the land on the Galveston Ship channel side is set aside for industrial. Not much fo residential landscape.

I think plumber's right. Last I heard, the City of Galveston wanted to move industrial and port industry to Pelican Isle, so it could expand the cruise terminal and tourist sites on the Galveston side. I doubt they want any residential on PI at all.

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TheNiche

TheNiche

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I think plumber's right. Last I heard, the City of Galveston wanted to move industrial and port industry to Pelican Isle, so it could expand the cruise terminal and tourist sites on the Galveston side. I doubt they want any residential on PI at all.

Sounds like the perfect spot for Section 8 to me.

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BigJoeTX

BigJoeTX

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That's an old picture! Though I haven't attended TAMUG in a few 2-3 years I've been back and there's now a real, bona fide, apartment complex and a gas station at that intersection. The apartments in those pictures are actually more like private dorms or efficiency apartments rather than real apartments. I think the smartest thing for the developers was making it so that you can't rent an apartment at either of those places without being a student. This ensures that you're normal Galveston apartment dwellers can't live there. :D

The trail I talked about comes to the road right there at that intersection, I remember a story I heard from some A&M off road guys here at the main campus about going off-roading down there and the city of Galveston even brought out a fire truck to wash the trucks off after they were done. Galveston loves those TAMUG students. If you got pulled over and told the cop you were a TAMUG student, more than likely you would get off warning. Here in College Station the students are treated like nuisance, if you get pulled over you're going to get a ticket for whatever you did as well as whatever whatever the cop can dig up on you while you're sitting there. (I've heard of students getting pulled over for having license plate frames, apparently that's illegal)

Anyway, its amazing how a city with real crime (Galveston) has such a different attitude toward the college students. Any non-section 8 development is more than welcome in the minds of most Galvestonians. :)

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J.A.S.O.N.

J.A.S.O.N.

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That's an old picture! Though I haven't attended TAMUG in a few 2-3 years I've been back and there's now a real, bona fide, apartment complex and a gas station at that intersection. The apartments in those pictures are actually more like private dorms or efficiency apartments rather than real apartments. I think the smartest thing for the developers was making it so that you can't rent an apartment at either of those places without being a student. This ensures that you're normal Galveston apartment dwellers can't live there. :D

The trail I talked about comes to the road right there at that intersection, I remember a story I heard from some A&M off road guys here at the main campus about going off-roading down there and the city of Galveston even brought out a fire truck to wash the trucks off after they were done. Galveston loves those TAMUG students. If you got pulled over and told the cop you were a TAMUG student, more than likely you would get off warning. Here in College Station the students are treated like nuisance, if you get pulled over you're going to get a ticket for whatever you did as well as whatever whatever the cop can dig up on you while you're sitting there. (I've heard of students getting pulled over for having license plate frames, apparently that's illegal)

Anyway, its amazing how a city with real crime (Galveston) has such a different attitude toward the college students. Any non-section 8 development is more than welcome in the minds of most Galvestonians. :)

Yeah, you are right there is an actual "real" apartment complex out there now. As a Galvestonian, I am not opposed to section 8 housing. I just think Pelican Island could be put to better use if residential development were considered.

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BigJoeTX

BigJoeTX

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Yeah, you are right there is an actual "real" apartment complex out there now. As a Galvestonian, I am not opposed to section 8 housing. I just think Pelican Island could be put to better use if residential development were considered.

Haha, yeah I forgot I'm not cut from the same stone as most BOIs. I'm a libertarian so I oppose any kind of public housing, I think it just breeds more poverty. To each our own though. :P

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