Galveston beach homeowners accuse city officials of having no road since Hurricane Beryl
The Brief
Galveston homeowners say they used to have a paved road that ran in front of their beachhouse.
However, that road hasn't been there since Hurricane Beryl.
The homeowners accused the city of dragging their feet in an effort to fix the road.
City officials said they will be repairing the road with new limestone, but not with a hard surface road.
GALVESTON, Texas - Fawn and Terry Maldonado had a paved road that ran in front of their Galveston beach house on Buena Vista Drive.
Fawn has pictures to prove it.
What they're saying
"See how many people were parking there. We had no issues. No one was worried about getting stuck," she said.
The couple can't even park in front of their own home.
"We haven't had a street since Hurricane Beryl," Terry said. "The last time that I drove down here and parked in front of my house, I got stuck."
"We've spoken to the Mayor's office, the City Manager's office, the public works supervisor," said Fawn, who has neighbors as frustrated as she.
"We're all in the same situation, and after speaking with them, they're hearing the exact same thing I have," she said.
"You don't have to complete the thing but do something to improve it from where it is now," said Mike Chambers. "We've seen emergency vehicles come back here, and they have to back up because they can't turn around."
What's the city's response?
"They keep saying that they're going to fix it," Fawn said. "They just keep kicking the can down the road."
The other side
In a statement to FOX 26's Randy Wallace, officials with the city of Galveston, said, "Just following up with you on Buena Vista Drive. I spoke with our public works team and this is what's going on with the road:
The City of Galveston has completed many repairs to West End roads since Hurricane Beryl and our work there is ongoing. Nearly half of our budget for streets is spent on the West End and crews are constantly working in the area to keep sand off the roadways.
East Buena Vista Drive and West Buena Vista Drive have both recently been bladed (sand removed) to make the road more passable. The problems in this area have been ongoing since Hurricane Ike when the beach row of homes was destroyed. Since, it has been a constant battle to keep sand off this road and this has been exacerbated by the lack of rain this spring. However, the city performs regularly blading in the area.
While we would like to do a hard surface road on East and West Buena Vista Drive, we are prohibited by the GLO. We have been working with our state partners to maximize our sustainable options and looking at other surfaces. As of now, the plan is to repair the road with new limestone and those repairs are forthcoming in the coming weeks.
City Council has prioritized beach nourishment projects in this area because of erosion, and one is planned for later this year. While this won't necessarily result in less sand on the road, the project would help by keeping tides farther from the infrastructure and preventing the road from washing out."
The Source
FOX 26 Reporter Randy Wallace spoke with Galveston beach homeowners and got a response from the City of Galveston.
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