Planning commission fails to approve home in Bermuda Beach dune conservation area

The Galveston Planning Commission considered an exemption and approval request for construction of a single-family home at 12716 Bermuda Beach Drive, a lot in the Bermuda Beach subdivision located in the city's Dune Conservation Area, but a motion to approve the application failed for lack of four affirmative votes.

Staff planner Kyle reported the site sits in a highly eroding area and described the applicant’s proposal to place the house on pilings with an elevated deck instead of a slab, and to minimize ground disturbance below the structure. “According to the Bureau of Economic Geology, this area is eroded at a rate of 6 feet per year,” Kyle said during the staff presentation, and he described photos, a property survey and design drawings that show the proposal’s distance from the line of vegetation.

The request prompted questions from commissioners about compliance with a General Land Office (GLO) letter that said decks beneath habitable structures must not be impervious or otherwise alter the ground. Kyle said the proposed deck would be built on pilings and use spaced slats so…