Proposed pier in Nags Head would be peerless

By Catherine Kozak
The Virginian-Pilot

NAGS HEAD

SNATCHED FROM THE JAWS of development before being torn up by Hurricane Isabel, then repaired, reopened and closed again, Jennette's Pier is finally slated to be resurrected as a storm-sturdy update of its historic self.

North Carolina Aquariums is expected to acquire the 5.12-acre pier site from the nonprofit North Carolina Aquarium Society after the transfer is approved early next month. Then, the nearly five years of setbacks and delays will be part of the past.

With a schematic design by Wilmington firm BMS Architects completed, the aquarium has a jump start on the $12 million project. The state is providing money in the budget that recently was approved, but the society has paid the $125,000 draft design costs, said Neal Conoley, the society's president.

Jennette's Pier has been a landmark at Whalebone Junction since it was built in 1939, making it one of the oldest fishing piers in the state. In its heyday, about 150,000 people a year fished at Jennette's. The new one - it will be the only aquarium pier in North Carolina - will likely become another sort of landmark.

"I would think with piers going away as fast as they have," Conoley said, "this will probably become an icon for the beach."

The Aquarium Society managed to find grant money to purchase the site in 2003. Six months later, 500 feet of the pier was lost during Isabel, and the pier house suffered $250,000 in damage. The pier house was repaired and reopened before closing for good in October 2005.

But the proposed new pier - its name has yet to be decided - will not be the rickety, weather-

weary pier of the old days. It will be made to withstand powerful storms. It will be 150 feet longer. It will be equipped with weather instruments and partially powered by renewable energy. It will have benches and a teaching pavilion built into it.

Made of concrete, with a wooden deck and railings, the pier is proposed to be 25 feet wide and 1,000 feet long. The attached two-story pier house, designed to reflect the historic Nags Head architectural style, will be 25,000 square feet and will include space for a tackle shop, an arcade and food service. The upstairs, with covered porches, will be able to accommodate 150 people and will have a catering kitchen and offices.

Conoley said the aquarium is working with Dominion Power to develop demonstration projects that use solar, wind, wave and tide resources for alternative power sources.

He said he didn't think the alternative sources would run the facility but they would supplement power.

"We want to make it a place that people learn from," he said.

Storm water will be captured in cisterns and used for toilets. Seawater will be pumped into exhibit tanks and in storage tanks as a resource for the aquarium. Landscape vegetation will be indigenous, and paving will be pervious. There will be parking for 210 vehicles, and a bath house similar to that at Coquina Beach will be constructed.

Joe Malat, director of the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island, said that once the pier property is transferred, the state will start preparations to demolish the old pier, the pier house and cottages on the site.

Malat said that he will manage the pier, but it will be shared by all three aquariums. It is still too early to know how many staff will be hired.

The pier, he said, will serve to extend the public's access to the beach, the aquarium's programming possibilities and its outreach into the community.

"On that level, it's just as though we're developing a new section of the aquarium," he said. "We're very excited about it."

If all goes smoothly with permit applications, Conoley said, work could begin as soon as spring 2008 and be completed by spring 2010.

When it opens, the fee to get onto the pier, which will likely be open year-round, might be $2 higher than the previous $8 fee, and the pier probably won't serve alcohol.

The public will have a facility that preserves the recreational assets of the pier, provides an educational outlet and a research facility, offers oceanfront space to rent for events and even manages storm water at a site that has been plagued by runoff problems.

That's a lot different than the prospective hotel or luxury homes developers had talked about putting there.

"It was a very close call," Conoley said. "It was within days."

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