Some time ago I noted that we don't own all of our beach. We have to pay an annual rental fee to the State of Texas. Chuck(107) emailed me to ask how this can be. Here is the story. When the condos were built, the existing shoreline was reinforced with bags of cement. The hardened concrete worked well for a while, but then the water started to encroach above and beyond the bags. It came about seven feet toward the bayside units. We were prohibited by state law from backfilling to reclaim our beach. The original owner of my condo, John Haney, petitioned the state that we could not fight a fire in the condos unless a firetruck could access the beach to be upwind from the units. We were granted a variance and built the bulkhead back to the original shoreline. The reclaimed beach was deemed to be state property and we are still required to pay an annual fee to use it. Every five years our lease with General Land Office is reviewed and renewed. Last year we were required to pay a fine because we had added to our pier without first having the addition approved by the GLO. The current renewal is noted agreement LC 870079. It was signed for us on March, 24, 2008 by Steve Skiles. Steve had no relationship with our HOA, but I guess our board had authorized him to sign the document. I have a copy of the agreement in PDF format. It is 14 pages long including maps and diagrams. It is a public document and if anyone would like to have a copy, just let me know.
As a footnote, about three years ago I saw a group of people drive up and park in front of my condo. They got out and walked around the back. One stopped near my deck to tell me that he was John Haney's son. John had died and wished for his ashes to be scattered off the Kontiki pier. They walked out on the Phase II pier, had a short ceremony, and scattered the ashes.