The following is the Island Breeze article about the Cowen Group request to LMWD.


New development proposed near swing bridge
By CARL PHILLIPS Island Breeze

Known as the swing bridge, the structure could be a passageway to a new real estate development, one tentatively named “Palm Island”.
Expensive to maintain, the bridge is currently owned by the Long Island Village Owners’ Association. If the land were ever annexed by Port Isabel, the bridge could be sold to the city or to other private owners.
The new development planned for the property is on the southeast side of the road, just past the swing bridge on S. Garcia Street. The plan was revealed at the meeting Wednesday night, August 13, of the Laguna Madre Water District.
Palm Island is being developed by Cowen Island Properties, a limited partnership consisting of John Cowen, John Cowen Jr., Jeremy Ford and Ryan Harden.
The project is planned for the area to the east of Long Island Village, just across the street from Long Island’s offices.
According to developers, the purpose of the project is to “provide an active adult/second home resort lifestyle…whose physical structure will engender a sense of community that is able to support an evolution towards a self-sufficient village or town.”
They explain that Palm Island will offer residents a quality of life that a large segment of Laguna Madre real estate buyers can afford.
The development promises boat access and amenities, including direct deep water access to the Intracoastal Waterway to the Laguna Madre and the Gulf of Mexico.
Planned are 550 lots, with a sales price of $350,000 to $450,000 each. Fully developed, the total tax value would be in the neighborhood of $227.5 million dollars.
Over a period of 20 years tax revenues for Cameron County, the Point Isabel Independent School District, the Laguna Madre Water District, Cameron County Emergency and Texas Southmost College would total $38,397,340 at current tax rates.
This does not include the estimated $3,785,000 the water district would receive for 550 new water and sewer customers, nor nearly a million dollars in water and sewer tap fees the district would collect.
In return the developer is asking the water district to install and maintain, at district expense, a six-inch sewer line, a lift station and a domestic water line along the edge of the property.
The district is currently planning to lay a raw water line at the edge of the property to serve as an irrigation source for Long Island Village’s Golf Course. Cowen Island Properties pointed out that the lines they need could be laid at the same time, at a considerable savings.
Costs to the water district could amount to half a million dollars, depending on several factors. If the development proceeds as planned, Cowen Island points out, it would alleviate of lot of blowing dust problems that originate from the site of the proposed community.
Water district directors, wanting more information, tabled Cowen’s request for laying water and sewer lines at district expense.
Developers were unavailable for comment on Thursday