What's Next for the Stramski Pier?

Each week, we set out to answer a question submitted by one of our readers as part of our You Ask...Patch Answers column.

Earlier this week, we received an email from Greg Lawrence, a local resident who was wondering what was next for the Stramski Pier project.

He asked: Any way we can get an update on the construction of the Stramski Pier? Will it be ready for the summer sailing season?

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The Story So Far

When we last checked in on the seven-year Stramski Pier Project in August, we learned that local officials were preparing for it to drag into the summer of 2013 because of a problem with permitting.

The project, which Harbors and Waters Board members initially hoped would be completed by the end of the summer of 2012, stalled out over the spring when Stramski Way resident Jill Goodman, an abutting neighbor, filed an appeal aimed at having the pier extension re-angled to provide "better depth and better aesthetics."

Later in the summer, Board Chairman Gary Gregory announced that a representative of the state's Department of Environmental Protection recommended that Goodman's appeal be dismissed.

However, after clearing that hurdle, board members learned that work on the pier would have to be temporarily suspended because they hadn't filed for a permit with the Army Corps of Engineers - a step they claim the state said wouldn't be necessary.

The Latest

As of Thursday morning, Harbors and Waters Board members were in the process of reapplying for a license to add an additional 40 feet to the pier sometime this spring, Harbormaster Webb Russell said. The application, he said, is nearly complete - it is just being reviewed by town counsel.

So when will the pier be ready for local boaters? Russell said the realistic estimate is sometime by the end of the year.  

"Our best case sceniario is to get it in this year but it is looking like it may not be ready for the summer sailing season," Russell said. "We're really hoping to have it ready, but I just dont know if thats going to work out."

The pier is being extended another 40 feet so that it will be in accordance with a superceding order of conditions that requires the attached dock float at a "zero low tide".

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