City council to decide fate of Naples Pier

Reporter: Michelle Alvarez Writer: Matias Abril
Published: Updated:

The ruin of the Naples Pier is one of many in a long list of casualties from Hurricane Ian.

On Wednesday, the city council held a meeting to discuss what to do with it.

Back in June, leaders chose a design for the $20 million project.

The city hit a roadblock when it came to concessions and where they should be placed,
so they approved a new design in a 6-to-1 vote.

“We also want to do it right, and we want to be clear, want to make sure everything is transparent,” said Chad Merritt, director of the City of Naples Parks & Recreation.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection advised the city concessions cannot remain offshore, which is different than what council members approved in June.

New renderings for the Naples Pier were presented at Wednesday’s meeting, which showed some of the changes.

The concessions would be onshore, there would be more roofed areas and more seating options,
and they also mentioned having three pilings instead of four.

WINK News talked to people on the beach about what they think the pier should look like.

“It seems to me that they’re going to have a couple of different tiers on it,” said Lori Matheus, a beachgoer, “so that seems really good, especially for the fishermen who have been taken down with this pier being taken down, so hopefully, it will just be that much better than it was before.”

“When you’re out there, you can see all the wires hanging off of it. You can see all the lumber, just the nails hanging out of it, because you just clean it up first and then start thinking about rebuilding it,” said Bryan Magonigal, beachgoer.

The city has set up a fundraiser where people can donate online to the Naples Pier Project.

The goal is to start construction by the start of next year, and it could take 12 to 18 months to complete.

Click here to donate.

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