Port Isabel commissioners voted on Wednesday to designate Long Island Village as an industrial district, a move that has upset residents who call the area home.

Long Island Village property owners packed Port Isabel City Hall, asking commissioners one after another not to move forward with the designation.

Bruce Redfield, a Long Island Village property owner who has lived there since 2019, described the community as a quiet retirement community.

"There's a lot of activity, dances, fellowships, parties, golf courses, tennis courts, a lot of active things that you can do, which keeps you busy 'cause you're retired," Redfield said.

Redfield said he and other property owners only learned about the meeting days ago.

He said many were worried about what the word "industrial" could mean for their homes and community.

"Our property values will obviously plummet in an industrial district because you can't sell at fair market value. You can't do new construction. You can't add on to your house," Redfield said.

Port Isabel City Manager Jared Hockema said the designation does not do what residents fear.

"It doesn't create any type of industry there. It merely allows for tourism activities and for us to enter into further negotiations with individual landowners," Hockema said.

Hockema said a state law allows the city to designate Long Island Village as an industrial district because of the property and how it is used.

"You heard a lot of discussion today, and they acknowledged that they have swimming pools; they've got amenities they rent out to people that are visitors. Those are all tourist activities," Hockema said.

The designation also has another effect. Long Island Village property owners had been trying to petition their way out of Port Isabel's extraterritorial jurisdiction, or ETJ, an area outside city limits where the city still has some authority.

"And so under that it would bar them from going out of the ETJ," Hockema said.

Commissioners approved a resolution designating two tracts, collectively known as Long Island, as an industrial district. They also approved the first reading of an ordinance confirming the designation.

Hockema said the resolution is effective immediately.

"There are two readings that we have to do by the charter, but the resolution is effective immediately, and then we have two readings that basically ratify that," Hockema said.

Channel 5 News is also looking into a years-long dispute between the city and Long Island Village over hotel occupancy taxes. Hockema said the city has filed a lawsuit over it. Channel 5 News is working to learn more about that case.

For Redfield, the tax dispute adds to his concerns about why the city moved forward with the designation.

"It just feels wrong, and I think it plays very wrong to the public that Port Isabel, which is a town we love, and we wanted to retire in, is going to go to this extent to take advantage of a bunch of seniors in a retirement community just to grab extra taxation money," Redfield said.

Commissioners are scheduled to meet again on Thursday for the second reading of the ordinance that would solidify the designation.

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