Listen  Download 

Transportation consultant Barry Goodman told the Galveston Livable Communities Steering Committee that legal problems with the lease of the Brown Family Trust parking lot at 25th and The Strand are being resolved, and plans for the proposed transportation terminal at that location can move forward.

"To resolve the impasse, I went and commissioned a legal opinion from Andrews Kurth that I submitted to the city attorney that was reviewed and passed on to council at the last meeting," Goodman said.  "The impasse is resolved through the city's ability to use its established local government corporation that is exempt from the state property disposition guidelines to enter into the long-term lease with the Brown Family Trust."

Goodman said that he would be meeting with representatives of the Brown Family Trust to finalize a 30-year lease on the property, which will have a parking garage atop the terminal and also will include some ground level retail space.

David Watson raised questions about use of the property for a transportation terminal because City of Galveston officials had said at an earlier meeting that the space was not large enough to accommodate all of the buses and still provide sufficient retail space; and that a second terminal would be developed on 20th Street.

Goodman apologized for confusion generated by those statements, and stressed the importance of the building being used for the terminal to qualify for federal transit funds.

Goodman also suggested that the committee consider a new initiative to create a downtown management district, so that downtown businesses can tax themselves to provide a source of funding for maintenance of the infrastructure improvements being developed by the Livable Communities grant.

Historic Downtown Galveston Partnership President Kathy Modzelewski, who chaired the meeting, announced that it will be necessary to appoint a new member to replace HDGP Director Connie Shaut, who recently announced her resignation.