NAVARRE BEACH — After some 3 1/2 years in ruins, local angler Keith Cuthrell does not think the fishing pier will be rebuilt.
Cuthrell used to fish on the Navarre Beach pier several times a week before it was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004. Although federal, state and local funding has been approved to replace it, Cuthrell has little confidence that he’ll be fishing from a new pier next summer as projected.
“I just think something bad is going to happen before it’s over with,” Cuthrell said. “It’s just taking too long. They just don’t have their act together in the county.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has allocated $4.5 million to build the new pier. Santa Rosa county and state will chip in $250,000 each for a total of $5 million.
County Commissioner Gordon Goodin said he thought the county might receive a permit to move forward from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection last month. Although the permit has not been approved yet, Goodin said the project is still expected to be completed next summer.
“Nothing that I’ve seen indicates that we’ll have any problems at all,” Goodin said. “We’re right on target of where we should be.”
PBS&J engineering firm has been hired to design the new pier. It will be the same length as the old one, but wider and higher. There will also be blowout panels on the walkway, which are designed to prevent massive damage from another storm surge.
The pier can also be extended if construction bids come in lower than $5 million or if additional funds are secured.
PBS&J submitted the permit application to the DEP last year. Construction cannot interfere with sea turtle nesting season, which runs May through October. The work is expected to be finished in July 2009.
David Broxson is a lifelong Navarre resident who spent much of his teenage years on the pier. Since Ivan, he has had to drive to Pensacola Beach or Okaloosa Island to fish off those piers.
“I’ve fished on (the Navarre) pier all my life,” Broxson said. “It’s just taking so long getting things going. It doesn’t seem like (the county’s) planners are really getting things done.”
While he is not as pessimistic as Cuthrell, Broxson is not entirely convinced the county will meet its July 2009 target.
“When I’m standing on that pier, fishing on it, then I’ll believe it,” Broxson said.
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2 comments:
Navarre Fishing Pier was the best on the coast.Ilive in mobile,al and fished there a lot 3-4 days a week in cobia seasion.miss a lot of old friends.people came from all over the U.S. spending a lot of money going in to the local economey.Do not knoe why politicians take so long to rebuild something so good for the younger kids,famailes ect.but they have done the same thing in Gulf Shores AL. there pier is suposed to be finished in the fall of 08
Bob(KILLER)Walker
Navarre Fishing Pier was the best on the coast.Ilive in mobile,al and fished there a lot 3-4 days a week in cobia seasion.miss a lot of old friends.people came from all over the U.S. spending a lot of money going in to the local economey.Do not knoe why politicians take so long to rebuild something so good for the younger kids,famailes ect.but they have done the same thing in Gulf Shores AL. there pier is suposed to be finished in the fall of 08
Bob(KILLER)Walker
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