At its June 12 meeting, Port Lavaca City Council approved concept plans for two new restaurants to be built within the city, as well as officially adopting the 2023 Downtown Waterfront Master Plan.
Set to be built near the recently opened Hampton Inn, the new Taco Bell will feature 34 parking spaces, with two of them being ADA accessible. The other new restaurant, submitted by locals Kevin and Sasha Nevarez, owners of the Coastal Café and the Nevarez Seafood Company, will be located on South Commerce Street, adding another business to the downtown area.
The Nevarez’s new restaurant will fit into the newly adopted 2023 Downtown Waterfront Master Plan, which was previewed earlier this year. Now officially endorsed by the city, the master plan calls for large scale renovations to the downtown bayfront and will serve as a guide for future developments in the area. This will also allow the city to include the master plan when submitting applications for grants.
“We’ve dealt with a few different professional groups, and we’ve had a lot of input from people that have done this kind of work elsewhere, so it’s a cohesive idea,” Port Lavaca Director of Development Services Derrick Smith said. “I know personally we’ve leaned towards some of the projected possibilities and some of the ideas that were out there and incorporated them into future land use, planning and potentially zoning. It just hasn’t been quite laid into the foundation until today.”
During the meeting, the city council also administered oaths of office and issued certificates of election to the newly elected District 1 representative Daniel Aguirre and the reelected District 3 representative Allen Tippit, as well as permitting the use of Bayfront Peninsula Park for use during the Hardhead Derby children’s fishing tournament and awarding the bid for ballistic shields for the Police Department to GT Distributors for $69,034, factoring in a budget amendment of $10,378. The shields would be used during active shooter situations or barricaded situations.
“We received the grant almost a year ago, and just like everything else, the prices have gone up, so we needed the additional $10,378,” Port Lavaca Finance Director Susan Lang said. “It wasn’t until I began the bidding process did I realize these items have a shelf life as well.”
Finally, the city accepted a proposal by AECOM Technical Services to provide bid and construction phase services for improvements to the city’s water supply system for $149,595. The city also approved Urban Engineering to perform needed topographical surveying for the replacement of the railroad drainage culvert at the harbor of refuge for $35,000.
