kayak "trail"

Our home is on the "bay" side of SPI. On the one hand, I love the idea of a kayak/ paddleboard trail along the bay side of the island. On the other hand, we don't want a lot of extra traffic to spoil our peaceful spot in paradise.

Project aims to bring tourism, revenue to South Padre Island

South Padre Island city manager Susan Guthrie says the city plans to start constructing a venue project in an effort to attract year-round tourism to the city.

"When the whole project is done, we really will see a kayak trail and a paddle boat trail that goes all the way up the coast on the bay side,” Guthrie said. “We'll see a wind sporting facility that will attract wind sporters from all over the world and make it easy for them to access our bay that has the best conditions that you could have for these sports. It's going to be an amazing project and attract a lot of visitors."

The project will be paid for by the new venue tax, which Guthrie says generates about $2 million each year. The city will get bonds to cover the different phases of the project, but the venue tax--which was passed in November 2016-- will be used to pay for those bonds.

"I think it's been in the last year that the city really took the concerted efforts to find the funding stream to be able to do this," said Guthrie.

The first phase of the project will include the kayak launch and paddle boat station, which will be built behind the convention center.

Guthrie says the project is still in its early stages, as the city has to get permits before starting construction in order to address any environmental aspects or impacts the project may pose.

Original.