Flagler Beach City Commission Chair Jane Mealy walked to the edge of the the pier for the first time since Hurricane Matthew as workers put on the finishing touches. Standing in the middle was David Marine, one of the workers with the contractor, who happens to live a block and a half away from the pier. Click on the image for larger view. ( FlaglerLive)
Its really nice just standing out hereI 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 it163 feet of itwas 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 hes been waiting to make for months: the pier is finally reopening.
It is reopening Saturday.
Im 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.
One last section of the pier needed its planks. Click on the image for larger view. ( FlaglerLive)
Originally the project was expected to call for the replacement of 18 floor boards, those planks rich in etchings of memorials and commemorationsof 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 lossin length and width, as the tip had formed an ample T enabling a spread of fishermen to fish with elbow roomthe pier will not look different than it had before the storm, though its 10 benches are much improved. Theyre manufactured with a plastic-like recycled material that looks like wood and thatll be a lot more resilient, smooth to the touch and splinter-free. The kiosks will be back, as will the low lighting.
Flagler Beach City Manager Larry Newsom, who got it done. ( FlaglerLive)
The cost will not change to use the pier, and anybody who already had passes were 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, well submit it. Rigling added: That doesnt 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.
Kiosks in the making. Click on the image for larger view. ( FlaglerLive)
Newsom paused. A few waves rolled beneath more calmly than the half dozen surfers wished. Then he said: Now all weve got to do is get A1A fixed and all the dunes access points, and were good to go.
Newsom didnt 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 theyve made the pier, Mealy said on that edge. It feels really good to be standing here and not waving back and forth. Im excited that it will be opened soon and people can go back to fishing. Its one more back to normal, after the hurricane. I know the fishermen have been really, really anxious to return, and of course its more income to the city.
Looking at the edge: From left, Construct Co. Vice President Lindsay Buchanan, Jane Mealy, Rick Belhumeur, MiCha Johnson, the senior estimator and project manager for Construct Co., and Chad Liner, the project engineer. Click on the image for larger view. ( FlaglerLive)
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637-Ft. Flagler Beach Pier Re-Opens Saturday, 8 Months After Hurricane Matthew Lobotomy - FlaglerLive.com
