Hurricane Ike put an exclamation point to a proposal by state officials who are looking to change the setback rules for construction along Texas’ coastline. The proposed new rules would recommend a certain amount of beach between buildings and the high tide line. If there are no dunes, construction setback must be 300 feet inland from the mean high water line. If there are dunes, the setback is a minimum of 25 feet behind the first dune on the landward side or 60 times the annual erosion rate. For example, if the beach erodes at a rate of six feet per year, construction has to start 360 feet from the line of vegetation.

While coast line home owners are less than enthusiastic about the state General Land Office’s recommendations, the destruction wrought by Hurricane Ike has caused county and city lawmakers to take a more favorable view.

Hurricanes are wreaking havoc on coastal properties and the cost to the insurance companies is doubling every ten years because of the increasing population and building in hurricane zones. Yet, landowners continue to resist the governments’ efforts to impose setback rules and to prohibit construction within a certain distance from state and public beaches.

Ike managed to quell the legal dispute between 14 homeowners and Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson whom they accuse of trying to grab more power and land for the Land Office. Patterson, on his part, argues that the proposed setback guidelines would demonstrate that coastal landowners are building responsibly when he goes to the state for money for erosion control. Patterson had offered the 14 homeowners $50,000 each to move their houses away from public access to the beach. The offers are now void for those who lost their houses to the storm.