CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — While all eyes are on Idalia this morning and its impact on Florida - one town in the coastal bend is keenly aware of the dangers of severe storms. Port Aransas continues to recover from Hurricane Harvey six years after suffering major damage.
The $11 million investment in the city’s new Public Safety Center will help the Port Aransas Police Department, Nueces County Constable office, and the County's Justice of Peace Court which was destroyed when Harvey struck in 2017. The goal is to make sure the new building can withstand any future hurricanes that may come this way.
The Public Safety Center will be named after the city's late mayor, Charles Bujan. The Port Aransas City Manager David Parsons says the facility will be elevated off the ground and a symbol of a new beginning.
"We had been in a good battle with FEMA over the last six years trying to get funding for that building," Parsons said. "And just recently we went into arbitration in New Orleans in April, and we received about $7.3 million for the building."
Port Aransas contributed an additional $3.7 million. Parsons says the center will be nearly 13,000 square feet and more practical than the previous structure.
"Its going to be a masonary building," he said. "For the first foot, and then it transitions. So even if the building is filled up with six inches, we'll be able to squeegee it out and get back to work."
David Parsons is happy the police department will soon be out of the temporary building they've been working out of for five and a half years. He’s hoping this will be a solid permanent home. Construction is expected to last 18 months.