Work begins on Navarre pier

NAVARRE BEACH, FL - In a move many local anglers have been waiting years for, work has begun on a new fishing pier.
   
Santa Rosa County fishermen have been without a useable pier of their own since September 2004, when Hurricane Ivan wrecked the previous one. Hurricane Dennis followed a year later and damaged it beyond repair.
   
Construction crews have begun demolishing the ramp connecting the entrance building to the Navarre Beach pier and will begin constructing the new ramp when that job is finished. The new pier will be built about 200 feet east of the old one.
   
"We're on the fast track here," said Santa Rosa County Commissioner Gordon Goodin.
   
Construction on the new pier is expected to begin soon after the new ramp is built. It will be 1,500 foot long, or about 600 feet longer than the previous pier, and is designed to better withstand storm surges.
   
The pilings and other pieces of new pier are being fashioned now in Alabama, Goodin said.
   
St. Augustine-based Ed Waters and Son Contracting was selected for the job in March and has received all the necessary permits. The company has built the fishing pier at Jacksonville Beach, which was used as the template for the new Navarre Beach pier.
   
Santa Rosa County Engineer Roger Blaylock said some electrical work was done earlier this month. Goodin said the county might host a groundbreaking ceremony of sorts when the new pier's first piling is driven into the ground.

Construction is expected to take one year. The parking lot north of the new pier has been fenced off so Ed Waters and Son can house materials and equipment needed for the work.