Pastor wants Cameron County to "honor" 100-year lease agreement

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Pastor David Boughter recently received a letter from Cameron County officials asking him and his congregation to vacate the property by the end of the year, even though they have a lease for 100 years.

This has the pastor and the community of South Padre Island alarmed.

“I would like for them to just honor the lease," said Boughter. "It is a hundred-year lease that is very well spelled out."

A copy of the 1979 lease between the church and the county shows that the lease began on July 16, 1979, and has an end date of July 16, 2079, with a possible fifty-year renewal after that.

Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino says the letter sent to the church was a mistake but Boughter worries that might not be the case.

“This is where everyone that lives here or in the valley has a connection to the Island and they are buried here," Boughter said. "They come here for the funerals, for the weddings as we have thousands.”

Boughter has served as pastor for Chapel At The Sea for the past five years. The church's one-hundred-year lease ends in 2079 but fears their time there may soon be cut short as Cameron County Commissioners are discussing plans for a new development around the facility.

Boughter says the church serves many residents and visitors.

“During the summer it varies from one hundred to 125," the pastor added. "They are our normal people who live here full-time and some people that are vacationing come, but when we get into our winter season then we have a thousand people here a week and have about fourteen hundred that watch online every week.”

South Padre Island Council Member Joe Ricco has been using social media to voice his frustration and says it threatens one of only three places of worship on the Island.

“They don’t get to change history and that is what they are trying to do. It almost feels like religious persecution and that is not just acceptable today," Ricco said. “I don’t think the church needs to give up any property. The church does not need a Sunoco gas station next to it or a Circle-K or a Buc-ee's or a Ferris wheel.”

Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevino says there has been a lot of misinformation regarding the issue and even apologizes for the way the letter was sent out.

"The intent overall was basically to open discussions to address the concerns that the county has regard with regards to the lease," Trevino said. "But more than anything. To have discussions and figure out a way forward that's mutually beneficial to the church and to the county and everybody involved.”

Trevino says the court has not taken any action or chosen a date to terminate the lease. However, he does say there are several issues that their legal team is reviewing when it comes to the language in the agreements and hopes to discuss that with church officials in the coming days.

“We're trying to figure out also how much property the church is using that's part of the lease agreement," Trevino said. "And therefore, can some of that unused land be part of any potential master plan development that we're considering? But we, we're we're just at the beginning stages.”

Boughter says the county has yet not reached out to him or other church officials. For now, the pastor says he will continue doing God’s work.

“The best return on investment would be on the lives that are changed and transformed in this church," Boughter said. "We see that every week and have seen it for decades, and we are happy to do that and will continue to do that here at Chapel.”

There is still no date set for when church and Cameron County officials will meet.