“It’s really nice just standing out here—I love coming out here and looking at the city,” Jane Mealy, who chairs the Flagler Beach City Commission, said this morning. She was standing at the very end of the rebuilt Flagler Beach Pier, where workers were still applying coats of paint to a couple of kiosks and nailing down benches.
It was her first walk to the end of the pier in eight months, the first walk anyone not involved in the reconstruction had taken to the end of the pier since the rest of it—163 feet of it—was sheared off by Hurricane Matthew, since 600 floorboards were damaged or knocked out and lost and the pier itself was shaken to its foundations, requiring nearly $1 million in repairs.
Those repairs are coming to an end. This evening at the Flagler Beach Commission meeting, City Manager Larry Newsom made an announcement he’s been waiting to make for months: the pier is finally reopening.
It is reopening Saturday.
“I’m just ready for it to get opened so I can move on to the next 40 projects,” Newsom said in an interview. “This is kind of an economic engine for the area, so you get that done, it takes off a lot of pressure, that and dune access points.”
Originally the project was expected to call for the replacement of 18 floor boards, those planks rich in etchings of memorials and commemorations—of weddings, of anniversaries, of love declarations for Flagler Beach, and of memorials for the departed. The project instead ended up requiring 665 planks, this time screwed in with stainless steel screws rather than with nails, since nails more easily rust and get pulled when waves crash against the floorboard from below.
The new wood contrasted with the old like horizontal layers of geological time, the smell of new wood still more pungent the smell of fish that will start replacing it after Saturday, when the fishermen return. Aside from its lost tip, which is no small loss—in length and width, as the tip had formed an ample T enabling a spread of fishermen to fish with elbow room—the pier will not look different than it had before the storm, though its 10 benches are much improved. They’re manufactured with a plastic-like recycled material that looks like wood and that’ll be a lot more resilient, smooth to the touch and splinter-free. The kiosks will be back, as will the low lighting.
The cost will not change to use the pier, “and anybody who already had passes we’re working that out as far as pro-rating it out,” Newsom said. (The walk-on daily rate is $1.50 for most, $1 for senior citizens and members of the military, and the fishing rate for a day pass is $6, but various passes are also available. Details here.)
Meanwhile, the city got its $1.2 million insurance check for pier damage, Newsom said, which should cover the cost of much of the repairs, though the FEMA settlement is still being worked on. That process is “very slow,” says John Rigling, a disaster recovery consultant for the city, from the firm CDR McGuire (which also works with Flagler County). “We have not submitted a project at this point to FEMA. There were ongoing changes to the project. Once all the documentation is put together, we’ll submit it.” Rigling added: “That doesn’t mean the cost for the recovery has climbed. The documentation has increased.”
The city plans a soft opening of the pier Saturday, then a more celebratory ribbon-cutting about a week later.
Newsom paused. A few waves rolled beneath more calmly than the half dozen surfers wished. Then he said: “Now all we’ve got to do is get A1A fixed and all the dunes access points, and we’re good to go.”
Newsom didn’t actually make it all the way to the edge of the rebuilt pier. He had another meeting to get to. So he left that to Belhumeur and Mealy. “I see how much safer, of course stronger they’ve made the pier,” Mealy said on that edge. “It feels really good to be standing here and not waving back and forth. I’m excited that it will be opened soon and people can go back to fishing. It’s one more back to normal, after the hurricane. I know the fishermen have been really, really anxious to return, and of course it’s more income to the city.”
Mark101 says
And it only took 8 months.
Merilyn Collins says
Any word on simple construction of walk down’s to the beach. I haven’t invited many people to visit and spend money because it’s just to hard to get to the beach. And we’re right on A1A.
Mark101 says
@Merilyn Collins hate to say it, you can always drive down to Varn Park as there is hardly anyone there. I think I’ve counted 10 cars max so far.
Jo says
What about the walkways from N18 to Beverly Beach? When do they expect to have that fixed? It’s going to cause as a danger when July 4th comes rolling around and we have 50,000 plus people on our beaches..
capt says
On those walkovers that are still unusable, , who’s responsibility for repair is that, the County, Flagler Beach or the residents that resides across the street ? just wondering.
Rick Belhumeur says
All but two of the walkovers are open north of the pier. The two that aren’t are at 21st and 23rd streets. Three missing walkovers through the construction zone on the south side will be replaced at the city’s expense even though they will have to be removed when permanent repairs are done to the road. The two at the north end will also be replaced. The city is accepting bids now for these to be built. Please be patient.
Richard Smith says
Personally I think Flagler beach has done a remarkable job with the pier considering that over 160 feet disintegrated. In addition, as one poster had pointed out ALL but two dune crossovers have been repaired or replaced on the north side of Flagler Beach. It is the south side of Flagler where the focus needs to be instead of making temporary repairs every time it rains which is the norm this time of year. There are even places on the north side that wash out each time it rains. The focus needs to be on the dunes NOW plus installing a drainage system from A1A to the ocean. Leaving it the way it is will be throwing LOTS of paper money into the ocean and watch it float away.