b'C o m m u n i t yIt is in no way clear that a major, high-volume vacation resort like Sandestin, com-plete with thousands of hotel rooms, entertainment and shopping zones, public marinas for leisure boating, and all the traffic and hullabaloo that comes with it, is what island residents, or Corpus Christians at-large, really want on Padre Island.The potential of Lake Padre as a major development site is definitely recognized and promoted in the City of Corpus Christis Plan for the islands. While the first decade-and-a-half in the life of Packery Channel has not yet spurred those big-time proj-ectsand yes, the channels bulkhead construction was poor, has fallen apart, and is now being repairedthe value of this zone is not lost on anyone. While vessels headed offshore from Padre Isles or the marinas along the Intracoastal are limited in overhead clearanceand thus, overall sizeby the Packery Channel Bridge, that limitation does not apply to boats coming from Lake Padre.The Citys recommendation to, facilitate town center style development around Lake Padre to serve as a central gathering space for residents and visitors, recognizes the need for that center of critical mass on Padre Island like that which has benefited Port Aransas. The specifics of what that looks like and what it will take to get it built, takes us back to the unavoidable issue of vehicles on the beach, as it was in 2006.If Lake Padre can accommodate the biggest fishing and cruising yachts on the Gulf Once So Close, Now Within Reach?Sandestin,Coast, providing an unobstructed, 15-minute journey offshore, the level of fran-located on the Florida Panhandles Gulf Coast, brokechise accommodations to serve this market would be on-par with Hyatt, Westin, ground 50 years ago and is today one of the mostand hopefully, Omni Hotels, and in the 500- to 1,000-room capacity, not less than successful destinations in the U.S. Its former owner,200, which is the standard for all of the new box hotels built in the Coastal Bend in Intrawest Resort Holdings, was in line to developrecent years. This is the time to think big, not small, and the new magnet for Padre Lake Padre in 2006, the year Packery Channel wasIsland in Corpus Christi is not a waterpark or a golf courseit is the unmatched ac-completed, but voters defeated a City ordinancecess to the Gulf of Mexico for high-end, offshore fishing and cruise charters. That is that would have created a pedestrian-friendly beachthe answer. Resort developers like Woodbine, Intrawest, Omni Hotels, and Landrys south of the new jetties. The investment would havewould undoubtedly be interested in such an opportunity on Lake Padre, but their launched Lake Padre into a major oceanfront resort. guests are not going to want to dodge cars on the beachonce again.44THE COASTAL BEND GUIDE TheCoastalBend.com'