Town Council Spending $10,000 to Patch up Fishing Pier

By DORIE SOUTHERN
Cape Charles Wave

January 29, 2013

Cape Charles Town Council faced a Catch-22 at its January 24 meeting: Wait until September for federal funding to repair or replace the fishing pier damaged by Hurricane Sandy — or fix it at Town expense and risk forfeiting funds from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency).

But the decision was unanimous: Council could not accept keeping the pier closed through the summer, and so voted to patch it up at Town expense.

The hope was still that FEMA eventually would pay to replace the heavily damaged portion of the pier, which is the part built alongside the jetty.

But Town staff were less optimistic than at the previous Council meeting, when Public Works Director Dave Fauber had said that “FEMA is going to be dumping a lot of money in it to fix it and fix it right this time.”

Now, Town staff are worrying that FEMA is too preoccupied by the storm damage in New Jersey to give priority to Cape Charles.

Council’s dream is to build a new section of pier away from the jetty, closer to the harbor, connecting to the deeper water portion of the existing pier. The cost could be upwards of $300,000.

Unfortunately, FEMA would not bear any of that cost — the agency is willing only to repair or replace an existing structure, not build a new one.

So the Town plans to fix up the old pier just enough to be safe for the summer.

The Catch-22? If the Town does too good a job on repairs, FEMA might decide the pier doesn’t need to be replaced.

Wave Attenuators Get Thumbs Up

In other business, Town Council voted to move forward with plans to build floating wave attenuators at the entrance to the Town Harbor.

Vice Mayor Chris Bannon said he had received a number of calls from people concerned about the “Lego”-style floating attenuators shown in a January 21 Wave video. He emphasized that the wave attenuators the Town is considering are far more substantial and will also function as floating docks.

Various kinds of wave attenuators are available, depending on the type of wave action causing the problem.

Harbor Master Smitty Dize said the life expectancy of a floating attenuator is about 20 years if properly maintained. “Putting in floating attenuators would not preclude building more [stone] breakwaters in the future,” he said.

The plan is to share the cost of wave attenuators with South Port Investors, which is building a yacht repair facility next to the Coast Guard Station.

Council did not decide any specifics or costs, voting only to “proceed with wave attenuators.”

Water Fee Waiver Request Gets Further Study

Town Council also considered South Port’s request to waive unpaid water bills totaling $5,366 on a lot leased from the Town. South Port had removed a building that once stood on the property, so no water had actually been used. But Town code requires charging the minimum monthly water fee on any lot that once had a water connection.

Councilman Steve Bennett made a motion to waive the fees, but other members questioned why an exception should be made for South Port.

Councilman Mike Sullivan argued that if Council were to forgive one person, it should forgive all owners of vacant property receiving water bills.

Council ultimately decided to schedule a workshop on the issue.

In the meantime, Council voted to allow South Port to hook up new water and sewer lines in spite of the delinquent bill.

Peach Street Sidewalk Grant Request

Council also approved applying for a further grant for sidewalks and medians on the north end of Peach Street and Washington Avenue. Council previously authorized spending a $100,000 grant for an engineering study for the sidewalks.

This would be phase two of the multi-use trail project. Phase 1 was the paths in Central Park.