L.B. looks at options for pier, ferry

L.B. looks at options for pier, ferry
Projected cost put at $91.5M
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer
If Long Branch residents learned one thing at the pier and ferry charrette last week, it was that piers and ferries come in many different shapes, sizes and designs.

One of eight options for the pier design. One of eight options for the pier design. The charrette took place at City Hall on June 16, where city officials and the professionals hired to design and construct the pier and ferry gave the public a chance to view plans for the project.

Malcolm McLaren, of the McLaren Engineering Group, West Nyack, N.Y., explained the purpose of the meeting. The firm won the $1.7 million design bid

“We want to tell you what we’ve come to learn about Long Branch, and then we want to hear your opinions,” he said. “It will be a great opportunity for interaction.”

McLaren, whose firm has designed more than 50 ferry terminals, including the Battery Park Ferry Terminal in New York City, described the challenges of designing a ferry terminal specifically for Long Branch.

“We’ve done a lot of these ferry terminals, but here is what is particularly different about Long Branch,” he said. “We want to build a ferry terminal in the ocean, which is a little bit different than most.

“There aren’t many ferry terminals in the ocean; they are usually in a protected harbor,” he added.

McLaren said wind and waves make the design challenging.

“We also have to look at the prevailing winds and prevailing waves and how it moves along the shore,” he said. “The idea is we want to come up with a pier that is basically within a harbor.

“We want to build a pier, wrap it around and have a ferry come in and dock.”

Architect Rick Cook gave multiple design examples of what the pier would look like and where the buildings on the pier would be placed.

Cook also showed examples of piers around the world, including ones in Atlantic City, Chicago, Santa Barbara, England and The Netherlands.

“This is a Jersey Shore pier. It is about creating the right pier for here in Long Branch,” he said.

After McLaren’s presentation, residents were able to ask questions at different tables set up with specific topics, including environmental impact, open space, design, the ferry, and the pier and parking.

A few features that may be included on the 1,000-foot-long pier are restaurants, retail, an events center, trees, benches and a winter garden.

In what became the most visited table, city of Long Branch consultant Brian Dowling and Long Branch counsel Robert Beckelman manned the table dealing with questions about funding and cost.

Dowling broke down the different parts of the project and how much they would cost.

“The total cost we think is about $91.5 million, and that can be broken down into four components,” he said. “The landpreparing rights is $2.5 million, the core pier is $36 million, the ferry terminal itself is $20 million, and the amenities — anything from the restaurants, the retail, the winter garden — for $33 million.”

Dowling said the project already has $6.5 million in funding that is committed and controlled and another $53 million is expected from noncompetitive grants.

The remaining $38 million could be obtained a number of ways, including naming rights, private-sector contributions, and many target grants, including the Transit Security Grant Program and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.

One funding option for the project is the Tiger II (Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery) grant, through which the Department of Transportation will dole out $600 million for various transportation projects.

Dowling said the original grant application was denied, but he is hopeful to receive money from this year’s grant.

“If you look at the criteria, Long Branch meets the criteria,” he said. “We are going to reapply; we are further along with the planning process.

“With the stimulus money, it’s how soon are you ready to build. We were competing with projects that were ready to go.”

Beckelman said that one way the remaining money would not be raised was through bonding.

“We are not going to be bonding for $38 million,” he said.

Dowling said the pier and ferry must be constructed together, but it would be possible to phase in the different amenities.

“The amenity program could be phased based on the demand,” he said. “The amenity program, the plan to fund that is from leasing. The city never had a plan to build a restaurant and then subsidize that operation.”

McLaren described the design that would work the best.

“We want to build some sort of breakwater and incorporate that within the pier structure itself,” he said. “The waves will then be reflected off this breakwater, and we will have a nice, still basin, and the people could get on and off the ferry.”

McLaren described a way the design would fail.

“If we put a pier out there with a leg on it, then the piles don’t really stop the waves, they just kind of rock the boats,” he said. “Nobody is going to be able to get on and off the boat.”

McLaren said that one of the goals of the design is to not make drastic changes to the shoreline.

“We also have to be very sensitive to shoreline erosion. We don’t want to build another jetty,” he said. “We don’t want to create a pier that’s going to cause too many changes to the beach itself.”

McLaren said there are options on what size ferry the city could use.

“We looked at a couple of different vessel types,” he said. “A 78-foot boat could operate safely in waves up to 5 feet, a 121- foot boat could operate safely in waves up to 7 feet, and a 141-foot boat can operate safely in waves up to 8 feet.

“I’m looking at wave frequency to determine that an 8-foot wave only occurs 15 days a year,” he added. “So, 350 days a year, the waves are less than 8 feet, and that means the vessel could operate 350 days a year.

“We’d like to use 141-foot vessel with 399-passenger capacity.”

McLaren said the ride from Long Branch into Manhattan would be a little longer than some of the neighboring ferries.

“There are existing services from Highlands that takes about 50 minutes, and Belford takes about 40 minutes,” he said. “We are anticipating about 900 passengers per day.”

McLaren said one of the big challenges for the pier and ferry project will be obtaining permits from a number of government agencies.

“We will have to go through a very expensive permitting process with the Army Corps [of Engineers] and the New Jersey DEP [Department of Environmental Protection] and all types of interested agencies,” he said. “We have a lot of work to do to make sure we satisfy the agencies.”

McLaren said he expects two-way traffic for the ferry.

“We see this as a real opportunity for [people] to leave from Long Branch and go to Manhattan but also for people to come here,” he said. “This will be a great destination. We can provide a place for real pride and create an economic engine here in Long Branch.”

Another feature of the design will be a wind turbine at the end of the pier.

“We want to showcase renewable energy; I think this is a great opportunity to do that,” McLaren said.

McLaren said that a few steps have already been completed, including a financial feasibility study, a geotechnical investigation, research on access routes, research on waves and wind, breakwater design research, meetings with government agencies, and alternative concept designs.

“We’ve done a lot of work to get to this point. We learned a lot, and we want to learn some more,” he said.

McLaren said that next, the design firm would publish a report from the charrette, price out the concepts, obtain permits, and come up with a final design.

“At some point when we raise enough money, we are going to build the darn thing,” he said. “I really think this is going to be terrific.”

Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider said the pier has been an issue in the city for decades.

“For the last 20 years, it has been a clear project for this city,” he said.

Schneider said that even though there were some questions about the viability of a ferry in the ocean, Long Branch history proves that a ferry and pier is possible.

“There has been a pier and ferry service in Long Branch since 1880, so we know that it is doable, and now we have to prove that we can do it in the year 2010,” he said. “We can do all this, we hired a great team of professionals.”

The pier and ferry have been frequently criticized by residents at council meetings, but Schneider sees it as a benefit for the residents.

“Clearly the pier has sparked debate in this town. I think it is viable for this city,” he said. “I think ferry service enhances the city tremendously.

“You can get on a ferry and get to Manhattan in under an hour. That enhances everybody’s property value. It also means that people that already are in Manhattan can come down to Long Branch for a long weekend or the day.

“It makes us so much more economically viable, and that’s always been and always will be the goal,” he added.

Councilman Brian Unger said the project looks impressive.

“I think it is very exciting, I think the critical thing is getting the financing in place so it doesn’t fall on the taxpayers,” he said. “I thought they were pretty accurate.

“I think it is doable; they need a really deep vessel that can handle ocean waves.”

If the pier is constructed, it would be the sixth pier to be built in Long Branch since 1828. The last pier was destroyed in a 1987 fire.

Contact Kenny Walter at kwalter@gmnews.com.





Click here to enlarge



No Flash Detected
Please download the latest version by clicking below:

Get

Advertisement for Tom's Ford