More Insight from Mescalero on the Potential Boca Chica Development

Exactly as I feared. Already hopes that if utilities are extended to Boca Chica we can get some of those "projects" developed. Let's put up some historical centers and a visitor's center. We will then need bathrooms and maybe a snack bar and on and on it will go. And, to pay for the centers and upkeep and to repair all the vandalism, we will need a beach access fee. It might not be Padre Island but it won't be Boca Chica.

And the same goes for Palmetto Hill. Check out how degraded the habitats are out there and yet they hold so much life. Any construction will probably be on the higher elevations known as lomitas (little hills) to avoid flooding. These lomitas are a biologically unique area in the world. Not another inch should be cleared. And the same for the coastal prairie out there. In the alternative I would suggest an information center somewhere in the vicinity of the border patrol checkpoint with monuments at the actual sites. By keeping any buildings in one spot it minimizes the impact on the environment and probably reduces construction costs. Being near the checkpoint may redue vandalism.

Also, it is a false statement to say that Boca Chica will never become Padre Island. I've lived here long enough to have hung out on the Island when there were only three free standing restaurants and only a small handful of hotel/motels and look at it now.

Mescalero