Design For Pier At Ft. Hale Hailed

A belated silver lining benefit from the destructive rage of Hurricane Sandy was delivered to neighbors in Morris Cove Thursday night: The design for the pier to replace the Fort Hale Pier, which that red-letter storm battered and destroyed back in 2012.

The ribbons on the package include a longer pier into deeper fish-filled waters, one built to withstand future apocalyptic weather, featuring benches, fishing tables with cleaning pumps, and other amenities; the entire total cost, $1.8 million is already in the bank, bonded by the state.

That news was delivered by City Engineer Giovanni Zinn, Parks & Rec chief Rebecca Bombero, and other city officials to an appreciative audience of about 25 Morris Cove residents — many fisher folks among them —at a community meeting at Nathan Hale School on Townsend Avenue.

Sandy’s winds and wild surges twisted the popular fishing pier — a structure of 1970s vintage that was repaired after Hurricane Gloria in 1985 — into an irreparable condition.

“The state owned the pier at the time and wanted to give it to us. We said, ​‘Sure, but you have to fix it,’” Zinn reported.

State Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney — who saw his son and grandson catch their first fishes on the Fort Hale Pier and for whom the project was therefore ​“absolutely personal” — helped lead the way to secure the $1.8 million in bonding.

That’s how the pier is now city property with its rebuilding contract set to go out to bid as early as next month.

If all the permits come in as planned, the new pier could be open for anglers before the end of fishing season this fall, officials said, optimistically.

Designed by Mathew Taverna of Stratford-based Race Coastal Engineering, who was in attendance, the pier’s main features include ten additional feet in length to about 360 feet and a new ​“T” at the end,. That will mean more room for anglers to dip their lines to catch the stripers and blue fish, creatures that favor deeper waters.

Although the width of the span is being reduced from 16 to 12 feet, it will feature approximately (some details remain to be decided on) four benches for sitting and six fishing tables equipped with water hand pumps to clean the surfaces after chopping up the catch.

The angled railings on all sides will have notches to balance fishing poles, the wood is to be non-splintering, and about 30 percent of the railing height will be at the 34 inches, not the regular 42 inches, to accommodate people in wheel chairs and be in accordance with the Americans for Disabilities Act, said Taverna.

The end of the ​“T” will have an octagonal shape that officials referred to as potentially an ​“open classroom” where groups of kids might come for educational activities.

The design took so long to come together in part because the new pier must meet higher, post-Sandy requirements. ​“We’ve done more wave modeling” to be certain the structure can withstand the worst of expected weather, Zinn said. That includes readings done from new wave height monitors that were positioned in New Haven Harbor.

The pier, whose life span is expected to range from 25 to 50 years depending on conditions, is designed to withstand ​“the 100 year wave,” said Taverna.

“We think it’s a real upgrade” and an attraction that will draw not only fishermen, but sightseers and families and strollers from both the immediate area and around the city, said Zinn.

Amid general accolades, neighbors raised questions. Longtime resident Laura Carusone asked if there will be lighting and sufficient parking, particularly if the new pier attracts more users.

Electricity ​“would have blown the budget. We want to put all the money into the structure,” Zinn said at least for now.

“That could be a problem,” replied Carusone, referencing the use of the park and pier after dark.

“We are looking at security cameras that can operate in darkness,” Zinn answered.

Bombero reassured Carusone that current parking for the area that leads to the pier has slots for 40 vehicles, with more space available along Fort Hale Road. If need be, spaces could be opened up at the lots at the adjacent Black Rock Fort, Bombero said.

“Is there talk of concessions out there?” asked Ed Bednar, an East Rocker who comes to Fort Hale for the fishing.

“No contemplation of concessions at the present time,” said Bombero, although modest improvements to the paving and approaches to the pier are in the offing. They are to come not from the budget for the pier but from her department’s regular budget.

The park area has a small grill, a playground apparatus for little kids, and a bocci court. Bombero said there are no plans at present for any upgrade of those facilities.

The timeline starts with approval of a state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection permit to allow construction in the water, which is expected within weeks. Then there’s a 30-day period to receive public comments — such as occurred at Thursday evening’s event — that might result in tweaks to the plan.

After that, the project goes out to bid, with a three-to-four month construction schedule.

Zinn said that the first step in construction will be destruction of the current structure, of which he said there is nothing to salvage. ​“We [already] pulled three piles,” he said, to check for marine borers — tiny animals that would undermine the structure. The new pier is to be made of wood driven about 15 feet down into the harbor floor.

The good news was that there has been no sign of marine borers, he reported.

As the meeting concluded, the audience applauded and hailed the proposal with encomiums that included ​“superb job” and ​“very well thought out.”

Neighbor John Abbagnaro said he has caught stripers, blue fish, sea robbins, conners, and flatfish from the pier over the years. He praised the new design for giving more access to deeper water because ​“that’s where you get the snappers and maybe the larger blues.”

The new pier has been ​“a long time coming. They did it right. The time was well spent,” he said.