A nearly 50-year-old fishing pier on the south side of the Wabasso Causeway that was submerged and sustained major damage during Hurricane Matthew in 2016 will be demolished this summer, after a lengthy delay.
Nearly three years after the most powerful storm of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season brushed the Treasure Coast as a Category 3 event, packing winds up to 129 mph in early October 2016, the ravaged Wabasso fishing pier will be demolished beginning on June 3.
The demolition has been delayed because sections of the concrete pier are slated for use as an artificial reef that will be installed roughly three miles offshore and five miles south of the Sebastian Inlet and the permitting process has been slow.
Water visibility issues have also contributed to the time lapse, according to county Public Works Director Richard Szpyrka.
Szpyrka says that “artificial reef deployment [is] . . . limited to April through early August, typically by water visibility conditions at the reef sites,” and that planning and permitting for the reef weren’t compete early enough last year to get the project done by August. “So the demolition was postponed until 2019.”
Much of the pier – located on the south side of the Route 510 bridge – became submerged during Matthew, Szpyrka said, and the western portion of the pier has been off limits since the storm struck in 2016. The eastern section closed more than a decade ago after taking back-to-back beatings from hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004, county officials said.
Last week, the county commission authorized engineering firm Atkins North America, Inc. to oversee the demolition project at a cost of $44,878, according to county documents. The total demolition cost is pegged at $944,824, county officials said.
The county understands the pier – completed in 1970 – was a favorite among fishermen, but believes it’s too expensive to rebuild right now, Commissioner Susan Adams said. An estimate to rebuild the pier provided to the commission in 2017 came in at more than $1 million.
Safety is the main factor behind the demolition, Adams said.
“It has been a safety concern for multiple years since it’s been damaged,” Adams said. “It’s always been a popular fishing spot, but unfortunately we don’t have the budget at this point to rebuild it.”
