Naples Pier to close next week for Hurricane Irma repairs, reopen in September
Lisa ConleyEditor's note: An earlier version of this story reported that the Naples Pier would close Thursday, but city officials later decided to keep the Pier open through the holiday weekend.
Although Wednesday night's fireworks at the Naples Pier are in honor of the Fourth of July, the show could also be thought of as a "goodbye for now" party for the Pier.
The iconic landmark will close Monday and remain closed for an estimated 60 days while crews fix damage from Hurricane Irma.
Irma made landfall Sept. 10. The first half of the Pier reopened Sept. 21, but the portion past the concession stand has remained closed. Fishing has been prohibited on the open section of the Pier.
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City officials hired marine consulting company Turrell, Hall & Associates to develop construction drawings for the repairs. The repairs include a change in how the support structure for the decking is built, which will strengthen the Pier and should allow it to weather the next major hurricane.
The Pier survived Hurricane Irma mostly through luck, said Todd Turrell, principal of Turrell, Hall & Associates.
"I have to say, though, we got a little lucky with this storm," he said. "Everybody knows it kind of broke up on the back end, and that's the end that would have pushed the water in. If we had gotten anything like that 15-foot storm surge they were talking about, or even 10 feet, we probably wouldn't be talking about the boards here — they'd be gone. We'd be talking about the concrete structure."
Dana Souza, director of community services, presented the City Council with four repair options at its June 6 meeting:
- Install new decking from the concession stand to the end of the Pier for mostly aesthetic purposes.
- Modify bolts and other parts that support the decking from the beginning of the Pier to the concession stand to match the new, stronger design planned for the western half of the Pier.
- Replace seven deck boards over each concrete structure that holds the timbers, decking and facilities above the water, for the first half of the Pier.
- Purchase five spare parts of the support structure to have on site in the event that additional damage is discovered during restoration.
Souza recommended proceeding with options two, three and four.
The council agreed and awarded a $182,470 contract to Zep Construction Inc. of Fort Myers to complete the repairs. The city has already spent $177,560 on emergency repairs for the Pier.
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Staff expects that up to 75 percent of the repair costs could be reimbursed by either the city's insurance or the Federal Emergency Management Agency; however, it could be years before the city sees that money.
City officials had hoped the Naples attraction and fishing spot would reopen in August, but due to the complicated nature of the repairs and a delay in putting the project out to bid, it's now going to be September. If work goes well, it could reopen in time for the anniversary of Irma.
Although the crews were originally going to work from a barge, they’re now going to work from the deck of the Pier, which means the entire Pier will be closed for the duration of the project.
Souza said working from the Pier will allow the project to progress more quickly.
“It could be a beautiful sunny day in Naples but with rough seas, which would make it difficult, if not impossible, to work on the repairs from a barge,” Souza said. “Doing it from the deck will avoid that problem and expedite the process.”
However, there might still be some days when crews are unable to work on the Pier due to rain or other unfavorable weather conditions, Souza said, in which case the Pier wouldn't reopen until later in September.
