Discovery Sands: How We Intend to Be Neighbors
- Jeffory D. Blackard
- Feb 26
- 2 min read
More than twenty years ago, George Mitchell—the legendary Texas developer who made
the modern shale revolution possible—asked me to step in and finish developing his remaining coastal assets at Pirates Beach and Cove. It remains one of the great privileges of my career. That work became the foundation of everything my company has done on this island since. We spent years building alongside the Army Corps of Engineers, the City of Galveston, the Galveston Bay Foundation, Texas Fish and Wildlife, and many others—learning firsthand what it takes to develop responsibly on the coast. We restored Delehide Cove, donated Bob Moore Island, and earned the Department of the Interior's National
Wetlands Conservation Award. That history informs every decision we make here.
One thing I learned during those years is that most people come to Galveston for the Gulf—the surf, the sand, the beachfront. But the bay is the island's real treasure. Quieter and full of life in ways the beach isn't. That stayed with me long after I left. A couple of years ago, my friend Steve May began assembling land west of Jamaica Beach and asked me to come in as a partner. I said no at first—twenty years away is a long time. But when I saw the property and what it faced, I knew. We set out to build an ecotourism destination that honors this island's legacy of environmentalism.
Discovery Sands spans 200 acres along the bay, less than an hour from Houston: hundreds of homesites, a central lagoon and lazy river, a marina with dry boat storage, and gathering spaces designed around the kind of neighborhood life that makes a place feel like home.
But the amenities are only part of the story. What I want to talk about is how we intend to be neighbors.
Communities across Galveston have real concerns about short-term rentals—noise, overcrowding, absentee owners, safety. The people experiencing them deserve real answers. Every STR at Discovery Sands will be governed by enforceable covenants recorded against the land—not voluntary guidelines, but binding legal instruments. Occupancy limits, mandatory quiet hours, progressive fines, and the authority to revoke an owner's STR license for repeated violations. We're building a 24/7 complaint hotline available not just to our residents but to neighbors in Jamaica Beach and surrounding communities, staffed by a dedicated Community Liaison.
Discovery Sands is also designed to address broader needs on this part of the island—targeted workforce housing, dedicated 55-and-older independent living, and a wastewater treatment facility sized well beyond our own needs to serve residents further west who currently lack adequate infrastructure. We're working with UTMB on their Blue Zone initiative, with the goal of making Discovery Sands the first Blue Zone community in Galveston. When you build at this scale, you have a responsibility to leave the surrounding area better than you found it.
George Mitchell told me that he believed Galveston's best days were ahead of it. I still believe that. And Discovery Sands is how we intend to prove it.
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