ANNA MARIA – City commissioners have approved a $347,660 contract for the engineering and other preliminary services needed to repair the hurricane-damaged City Pier.
On Nov. 19, the commission unanimously approved the contract with the St. Petersburg-based George F. Young engineering firm that will inspect what remains of the pier and provide the city with the engineering, permitting and project management services as part of the pier repair project.
The city has not yet sought proposals from construction firms interested in replacing the missing pier walkway according to the engineering work to be performed by the Young firm.
In early October, Hurricane Milton obliterated a significant portion of the pier walkway, leaving a 75- to 100-yard gap between the T-end pier buildings and the remaining portion of the pier walkway that connects to the shoreline. The pier and the pier-based City Pier Grill and Mote Marine Science Education & Outreach Center will remain closed until the pier walkway is replaced.
In late October, the mayor and commission discussed the initial $321,922 proposal submitted by George F. Young Structural Engineering Vice-President Jeremy Lunsford. The firm previously engineered the still-pending Reimagining Pine Avenue project.
Former Mayor Dan Murphy recently informed the commission that some additional services were needed and that would increase the proposal price. Due to a health issue, Murphy did not attend the Nov. 19 commission meeting.
When addressing the commission on Nov. 19, Lunsford said the proposal includes inspections of the remaining portions of the pier, both above and below the waterline. It is hoped that those inspections provide insight into what specifically happened to the pier walkway.
“The remains of the pier will also be inspected to ensure it’s safe,” Lunsford said.
He noted the engineering team is already reviewing the engineering documents used to construct the current City Pier, completed in 2020. The previous wooden pier was closed in 2017 and later replaced due to damage inflicted by Hurricane Irma. That pier replacement project cost $7.3 million.
Lunsford said studying the current pier design might help identify what more can be done to prevent similar damage during future storms and the engineering firm will explore different design ideas to see if the pier can be made more resilient to storm damage.
“It’s the nature of where we live,” he added in acknowledgement of the risk of placing a pier in a hurricane-prone environment.
During previous discussions, Murphy noted the T-end of the pier was built using concrete decking and concrete and steel support components. And for budgetary reasons, less-expensive wooden support components were used on the pier walkway. Murphy recommended using concrete and steel support components for the new pier walkway if financially feasible and he estimated the repair costs might be in the $3 million range.
Lunsford did not estimate how long the initial engineering and permitting work would take, but he said the hope is to get the pier operational again as soon as possible. No one associated with the city has publicly estimated how long it might take to complete the pier repair project.
Lunsford said the engineering team has already engaged in preliminary discussions with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection regarding the accelerated emergency permitting process.
“It’s been a positive conversation with those agencies so far,” he said.
The City Pier also served as a landing area for Manatee County’s Gulf Islands Ferry service. A temporary spud barge was recently positioned between the City Pier and the Lake La Vista inlet to serve as a temporary ferry landing. Before ferry service resumed in Anna Maria, it was determined that a second barge is needed to extend the temporary ferry landing out into deeper water. The second spud barge is expected to arrive and become operational in early December.
Related coverage: City Pier badly damaged, temporary ferry landing installed
