CRA approves ferry dock repairs
BRADENTON BEACH – The city pier and the floating docks were heavily damaged following Hurricane Milton. At the Oct. 17 Community Redevelopment Meeting with an eye on getting ferry service back for Island residents and workers, the board approved up to $500,000 for repairs.
“One of the goals he (Manatee County Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Elliott Falcione) has isn’t for the tourism component so much but for displaced individuals and workers who are trying to access the Island without all of the traffic backup,” City Attorney Ricinda Perry said at the CRA meeting. “This would be something to try to make everybody’s lives a little bit easier for the people who work here and live here to get back onto the Island.”
Perry said the city pier sustained approximately $90,000 of damage.
“It’s largely what I’m going to call cosmetics,” she said. “The pier is structurally sound, it was handrails, boards, possibly a brace or two, but because we were putting the improved bracing system in prior to the hurricane it really did protect that structure,” she said.
She then outlined the damages to the floating dock.
“The piece that manufactured on what I would call part two of the project is in great shape. Golden is the one that manufactured that,” Perry said. “The other portion that was manufactured out of Barcelona is not faring quite as well. Now in fairness, it could be the materials. It could be the fact that we had a tremendous amount of wrecked boats under the floating dock.”
She said those boats included a 42-foot boat. Within that was another boat and underneath those, multiple sunken vessels.
A discussion with Falcione about the possibility of a floating barge was rejected as he didn’t feel it would work particularly well and would require a ramp, Perry said.
“We know financially we’re not in a place where we can drop the money. I believe the price quote that I saw was about $350,000 to redo the floating dock,” Perry said. “Elliott has been looking at ways to market the city and, if we’re able to do this quickly and get the ferry up and running, there is certainly financial assistance to make that happen.”
Perry outlined a discussion she had with Steve Porter of Duncan Seawall about options.
“There was a talk with Steve – do we salvage what’s there from Barcelona and try to work with that? The plan is to salvage what we can, but the system itself he feels is an inferior product and by the time you continue to do these repairs over and over, seeing how well the Golden (Golden Marine Systems) product held out, we are going to reuse that,” she said. “That is 100% salvageable. Even the boards are in good shape. We think it’s probably wiser to spend a little bit more and just get Golden to rip out the first part.”
She said the rollers and floats on the floating dock are salvageable.
Porter committed to getting the work started quickly, Perry said. By the end of the month, he expects to have something for the ferry to operate off of.
“What I would like is a motion that authorizes me and Chief Cosby to make the necessary repairs to the city pier and floating dock with funds to be determined by the city treasurer and ISC (the contractor who manages the FEMA cost reimbursement paperwork) as well as the TDC (Tourist Development Council) at a cost not to exceed $500,000,” Perry said. “That is the motion that I’m looking for so I can get bodies back onto this Island, especially those that don’t have cars. We know that about 80% of the cars were destroyed out here. If we can do anything to help our people come back and forth I think we should do that.”
Mayor John Chappie made the motion to approve and it was seconded by CRA member Jan Vosburgh. The motion passed unanimously.
Following the vote, CRA member Debbie Scaccianoce questioned why boats were allowed to be at the pier during a storm.
“We can’t deny somebody safe port. If they come tie up to your dock and they think it’s safe we can’t do anything about it,” CRA chair Ralph Cole said. “In a storm like that, there could have been boats that came from across the bay or the Seafood Shack. Boats were moving every which way and eventually a lot of them hit something and sank.”
“In the past, we’ve had boats that have come up from Sarasota Bay and crashed into our structure,” Perry said. “Boats are the most destructive force. It’s the vessels that are causing the most damage every single time. And there’s no way to stop it.”
Cole said Chief Cosby and the police department have done a great job getting rid of derelict vessels and there are very few left to be disposed of.
“That wind was blowing stuff every which way,” Cole said. “We’re lucky to have what we have left.”
