Push to rebuild N.C. pier reaches success with state funds

NAGS HEAD

Jennette's Pier at Whalebone Junction has escaped another close call, this time with the budget knife.

With officials from the North Carolina Aquariums - the pier's owner - holding their breath, the governor signed legislation late Tuesday that provides existing storm-water funds for construction of a new pier and pier house.

"We were nervous," said Joe Malat, director of the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island. "The state is in a serious budget situation, but it's pretty clear this project will provide a significant amount of jobs."

Six permanent, full-time and about 30 part-time staff are expected to be hired, Malat said.

Construction will generate 555 jobs, with additional off-site jobs of more than 1,000, according to a news release from Gov. Bev Perdue's office.

The money had originally been available in the state Department of Transportation budget for storm-water projects in Dare County, said David Griffin, state aquariums director. In recent years,

unspent funds were moved to the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, he said, where they were recently identified as an available funding pot for Jennette's.

Planning for the two-year project was thrown off-course earlier this year when the lowest construction bid came in almost twice the then-$14 million projected cost. Griffin said construction costs have since been pared down to $22.5 million, not including design and contingency fees.

Legislation ratified on Tuesday by the General Assembly authorized the department, which oversees the aquariums, to build the pier with non-general fund receipts up to $25 million.

Griffin said on Wednesday that a recommendation has been submitted to the state property office to award the construction contract to the low bidder, Clancy & Theys, based in Wilmington, N.C.

"Once the award is issued, the final step is the signing of the contract," he said. "We hope just in a matter of days to have that signed, and once that's signed, it's a done deal."

After barely surviving a threat of being demolished and replaced by a hotel or luxury homes, the pier and 5.12 acres of oceanfront property were bought in 2003 by the North Carolina Aquarium Society, the aquariums' nonprofit fund-raising arm. The purchase was made with a grant from the state Cleanwater Management Trust Fund. The town of Nags Head, Dare County and the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau also contributed funds. But before the year was out, Hurricane Isabel had torn off most of the 60-plus-year-old pier.

The pier house was renovated and reopened with exhibits, but the pier was never rebuilt. The society later transferred the facility to the state, and the aquariums decided to rebuild an educational, environmentally friendly and hurricane-resistant facility.

At 1,000 feet, the pier will be its original length. It will be made of concrete with a wooden deck. Most of the cost-saving, Griffin said, was found by modifying the bends and girders of the pier pilings. Also, the pier will be 22 feet wide rather than 25 feet as initially planned.

The "green" features - wind turbines, cisterns, solar panels - will still be part of the pier. The two-story pier house will include an arcade, a tackle shop, classroom and 200-seat multi purpose room. A storm-water management project will be built for the site after the structures are completed.

Educational and recreational programs will be offered as an adjunct to the Roanoke Island aquarium. Fees and hours will be comparable to the area's other fishing piers, Griffin said, and alcohol will not be allowed.

With Jennette's, the Roanoke Island aquarium is the first of the state's three aquariums to get its own pier. But the trade-off may be losing some of the pier's identity.

Officially, the pier's name on the signs will be the North Carolina Aquarium Pier at Nags Head. In a nod to tradition, Griffin said, it will also say, "formerly Jennette's Pier."

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com