navarre beach fishing pier

Pensacola News Journal - Carmen Paige Santa Rosa County officials are looking to revise plans for the Navarre Beach fishing pier to reflect today's construction prices. Officials recently met with representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and talked about modifications. FEMA has allocated $4.5 million to rebuild the 900-foot pier. The county will have to kick in 5 percent and pay for any improvements. "Our request is to ask for a revision to the project worksheets to increase the money due to an increase in construction costs," said Roger Blaylock, the county's engineer. How much the increase will be has yet to be determined, Blaylock said. "Ballpark figures put it in the $8 million range, but that's just an estimate," he said. Blaylock said Santa Rosa County is permitting an additional 300 feet for the new pier, but that is not necessarily what will be built. "Anything above and beyond the pier prior to the storm, or any extension of the pier would be at our expense," he said. "We will build what we can afford." Projections were that the new pier would be completed by July 2009. Blaylock noted permitting will take 12 months, and the construction time frame is 18 months. Jim Taylor, president of the Navarre Beach Leaseholders and Residents Association, hopes to see the pier up as soon as possible. "A lot of people in this area miss it," he said. "People from the mainland are now fishing on the causeway, and I'm sure many of those used the pier." Santa Rosa County engineers are close to a final design on the Navarre Beach fishing pier to submit to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. It will be about 150 feet to the east of the old pier. "But, we've still got to get the money for the pier," Blaylock said. The Navarre Beach fishing pier was severely damaged by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004 and took more blows from Hurricane Dennis in July 2005. The old pier had a T-shaped formation at its end. The new one would have an octagon-shaped platform at the end with liftoff decking to protect it from storm damage.