Introducing the new Citizens' Advisory Committee

To date, the Clear Lake City Greenspace Preservation Committee has been primarily focused on preventing the development of the Clear Lake Golf Club into residential and/or commercial property.  With the action by the Clear Lake City Water Authority (CLCWA) to acquire the golf course for the purposes of developing a flood control detention pond facility, community efforts now must change focus from preventing undesired development to promoting beneficial development.  In other words, the community must lay the groundwork for cooperation with the CLCWA and other government entities to develop the flood control project as a multi-use facility with recreational and aesthetic benefits to the community.  The Citizens' Advisory Committee has been kicked off with this specific job as its mission.

The Citizens' Advisory Committee has two co-chairs, Mr. John Jacob and Mr. Chuck Shaw: 

John Jacob

Dr. John Jacob is the director of the Texas Coastal Watershed Program, and holds a joint appoint with the Texas A&M Sea Grant Program and with Texas Cooperative Extension through the Department of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Science. He has coastwide responsibility for inland environmental problems that have a direct impact on the quality of our bays, estuaries, and coastal waters. Preeminent among these issues are the mitigation and abatement of runoff pollution from both rural and urban sources, and the preservation and restoration of valuable natural habitats such as wetlands. His current project, Coastal CHARM (Community Health and Resource Management), focuses on enabling coastal communities in Texas to improve quality of life in cities and towns while preserving and enhancing the natural coastal environment.

Jacob holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from Texas Tech University, and a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University, all in soils and natural resources. He is registered as a Professional Geoscientist with the State of Texas and is a Professional Wetland Scientist.

Jacob is a recognized expert on Texas wetlands, having been active in consulting and research aspects of wetlands for more than 20 years. Jacob is coauthor of the Texas Coastal Wetlands Guidebook.

The Texas Coastal Watershed Program provides education and outreach to local governments and citizens about the impact of land use on watershed health and water quality. The TCWP currently has 7 staff members with programs in sustainable urban planning, watershed management, habitat restoration, sustainable landscapes, and water quality issues.

Chuck Shaw

Chuck Shaw is currently NASA's Space Shuttle Mission Manager for the final Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission. A more thorough biography of Mr. Shaw will be provided soon.

On June 25, Mr. Shaw made a presentation to the Greenspace Steering Committee showing the methodology by which he and Mr. Jacob intend to fulfill their mission.  The presentation is attached below.  Please note that the file is almost 2 megabytes in size and make take several minutes to download via a dial-up connection.  It is also in .pdf format, and requires Adobe Reader for viewing.

Mr. Shaw's Citizens' Advisory Committee Introduction and Strategy
(1.7 MB, in .pdf (Adobe Reader) format)

On a closing note, we should all keep in mind that the CLCWA's efforts to acquire the golf course are not complete and are not guaranteed to succeed.  If the CLCWA fails to acquire the golf course, then the community will be "back at square one" and need to resume its efforts to preserve the golf course as a green space for the Clear Lake City area.

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