Another $1M in funding secured for pier design

Another $1M in funding secured for pier design
BY KENNY WALTER Staff Writer

LONG BRANCH — The city will receive another infusion of funding for the completion of the design phase of the proposed Long Branch pier and ferry.

Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-6th District) announced earlier this month that he secured $1 million to complete the engineering and design phase from the fiscal year 2011 appropriations bill.

Pallone secured $300,000 from the appropriations bill last July, and he explained his role in securing funds for the pier in an interview last week.

“The money is basically a line item or a specific appropriations item in the transportation appropriations bill,” he said. “In the past we’ve done that on previous occasions, we’ve gotten $300,000 to $600,000.

“We started out with a $4 million appropriation that was spread out over four or five years,” he added. “The last couple of years we’ve gotten half a million a year or so.

“All together it might be about $6 million or more. It’s all been in the design or engineering phase, and this would be to complete that.”

This latest funding comes on the heels of an informal June meeting held in Long Branch where design and amenity options were discussed.

In November the City Council awarded the design contract to New York engineering firm McLaren Engineering Group.

During the June meeting it was estimated that the total project would cost $91.5 million, of which $6.5 million had been secured, and officials said they are confident another $53 million could be secured from noncompetitive grant opportunities.

Pallone said he is hopeful that the latest funding would allow for completion of the design process for the pier.

Pallone also explained the process he goes through to secure federal funds for the pier, which he said started a year ago.

“This is all added to the budget. It’s not part of the president’s budget, it is added to the budget by members like myself,” he said. “Then it is approved by the Appropriations Subcommittee, then it goes to the floor of the House.

“Once it’s approved by the subcommittee, it is highly likely that you’ll get final approval from the House and the Senate and then signed by the president at about that level,” he added.

Pallone said his favorite part of the project is the fishing pier.

“The main thing I keep stressing is the fishing pier,” he said. “To me, it was a shame when the old pier burned down, because for me as a kid growing up in Long Branch, having to go out on the fishing pier and having all the fishermen use it was such a significant part of the city.

“It was known not only throughout the state but even the country,” he added. “People tell me when I have said I was from Long Branch, “That’s the fishing pier where I would always go fish” or “where my father or grandfather would take me to go fish.”

Pallone said that while the fishing pier is important to him, the most important aspect of the project might be the ferry, which would allow the city to obtain transportation grant funds.

“Remember, this does come under transportation, so the ferry is the crucial part of it,” he said.

“You have to have the ferry to get the funding. As much as I think the fishing pier is the most important aspect, the ferry is the crucial component in order to get the funding.”

Pallone expects funding to continue to be available in the future for the pier and ferry.

“I know we have a long way to go, and I think what we are trying to do here is get a combination of federal, state and local [funds] as well as private funds and put together a packet,” he said. “I know the city is working hard on that, and I’ll continue to work on the federal component.”

A fire destroyed the Long Branch pier in 1987, and since that time the city has acquired redevelopment rights and plans to rebuild the pier and other amenities, including retail, restaurants, an amphitheater and a children’s play area along the oceanfront.

The pier project is divided into three components:

The core pier, which will be the main structure, will cost approximately $36.3 million. Plans call for the pier to extend 900 feet from the boardwalk into the Atlantic Ocean.

The high-speed ferry terminal and docking facility, slated to cost $20.2 million, would provide a direct route from the Long Branch region to lower Manhattan at a travel time of 40 minutes. The pier would contain a docking system as well as the ticketing and waiting areas required for the ferry operation.

The final component is the amenity uses, at an estimated cost of $32.5 million, which include retail, restaurants, event space, a public winter garden, outdoor amphitheater, entertainment space, fishing area and a children’s play area.

Pallone has previously predicted that the project would create 1,200 jobs during construction and 600 full-time jobs once operation begins.

Contact Kenny Walter at

kwalter@gmnews.com.





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