Franke Uses Tried & True to Build Island Dunes By R. Daniel Cavazos |
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Dennis Franke and his family are mainstays of SPI developments since the 1950s. |
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Dennis Franke recalls the days of being a youngster freshly arrived on the South Texas shore and the sandy roads off the main paved one in Port Isabel. The first causeway from PI to South Padre Island was recently completed when Franke and his family first arrived in the area from the Midwest in the 1950s. "It's a wonderful place," Franke said of the SPI/PI communities and a coastal area his family has been part of for over six decades.
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To keep the beauty of what drew his family here – along with so many others – requires having "a stable and dynamic beach," he said, because without that attraction, "there's no reason, (for visitors), to come." SPI beaches' allure and way of life have been at the forefront of the Franke family business. Franke Realtors are among the Island's foremost developers and sellers of all sorts of properties, from shopper centers to condominiums to The Shores, a crown jewel of development just south of Franke's office.
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Franke Realtors are among the Island's most prominent developers and property managers on SPI. |
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The decades-long experience of doing business on the Island extends to many years of trial-and-error with one of the essentials of SPI life. It's what Franke refers to as having "a nice dune structure." Over the years on Franke beachfront properties, the family has observed and tried different approaches and methods for dunes, settling on techniques deemed to have proven effective.
"Those dunes are there for your protection," Franke said of the importance of dunes to Island life. "They're our buffer zone against the waves as they come in." Franke eschews the recommendations of environmentalists and regulators he has judged to be unwise and based on book knowledge and academia versus the real-life experiences he has seen over the years of how the Gulf of Mexico ebbs and flows in creating dunes. "We have a system," Franke said of building and maintaining dunes. "We do things that work."
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The building and maintenance of dunes are important in serving as buffers to protect buildings inland from Gulf waves and high tides. |
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Helping Nature Heal
The years of 2019 and 2020 were unlike any Franke had ever seen regarding what the Gulf brought in. "Tremendously high tides," he said of the pattern of activity seen in those years, which led to substantial erosion and damage to the Island's dunes.
Franke doesn't have any answers as to why, nor do the experts have a consensus when he has asked them for their insights into the exceptionally high tides of those years. However, he believes the Island's dunes are recovering and healing after a more normal tide year in 2021. |
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For now, he said, patience is required for a natural course of events to occur. "Let nature do that (heal) for a year or two," Franke said. "Then when it (dune system) stabilizes, you can help it."
For Franke, supporting this healing process involves fencing, hay, and using wind-and-sand in its natural progressions to build foredunes. Having continuous primary dunes closer to shore with the proper infrastructure will lead to taller dunes inland in protecting Island residents and structures during storms and above-average tides, says Franke.
He sees wooden fencing as vital to this process if it's laid straight across – and not at angles as some experts recommend – to build a network of continuous dunes with more durability and height and be less likely to be breached by rising waters. Knowing how far back from shore to place the fencing is another essential element in this process, he said, his view honed by years of seeing what has worked best with the pressures of Gulf waves and tides.
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Being Patient Timing, in his view, is another crucial factor. Trying to do something too soon after a catastrophic event or negative pattern like the super high tides is detrimental to the long-term well-being of the dunes. "You can't rush it," Franke said. "You can't be too anxious. Nature will bring it back." He said that a dune system could be rebuilt in about three years if a catastrophic or significant event does not occur during that time frame. He is optimistic in believing the Island's dunes are currently on the mend after a relatively quiet 2021 as it relates to high tides. |
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The offices of Franke Realtors are seen in the distant background behind a series of Island sand dunes. |
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If that holds this year – and when the time is right – he looks forward to implementing the Franke system of assisting nature in its work of building dunes.
It will mean securing the necessary government permits for dune work on privately owned land. It's a requirement and a process Franke isn't fond of, to put it mildly. For example, the City of South Padre Island has its dune maintenance and nourishment system on public lands. However, private landowners like the Franke's play an essential role in building the dunes that protect the Island. "There are difficulties," Franke said of securing government permits. "It's a fight to do the right things, but you learn what works, and then you move forward to do that work." |
Fore dunes closer to shore lead to the building of higher inland dunes in the view of realtor Dennis Franke. |
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