CORPUS CHRISTI — According to the Director of Nueces County Coastal Parks, Scott Cross, construction for the new Bob Hall Pier likely won’t start until sometime in 2024.
Nueces County Commissioners Court is waiting on a recommendation from the Coastal Parks Board.
“We submitted the new court permit with a dual pile design on January 27,” Cross said.
Cross said in Fall 2022, commissioners moved forward with requesting a two-pile design for the pier after getting feedback from surfers over the summer.
So, the Coastal Parks Board had to submit a new permit with those changes.
“Yes it’s going to be longer but it’s going to be right and it’s going to be safe,” Chesney said. “And safe and right are better than fast.”
Chesney said the first design had some safety issues.
“The original design was not acceptable to me and others from a safety standpoint then it was not acceptable to the surfers from a surf standpoint,” Chesney said.
“We’re not going to do steel that corrodes and rusts. We are going to do cement which certainly corrodes and rusts but over a long period of time.”
Chesney said the original plan called for $18 million and has grown to $26 million but wont be any extra cost to the tax payer.
“We think there is so much contingency built into the budget we don’t think that’s a problem,” Chesney said. “We’ve told the designer and the engineer that we aren’t going to go back to the court for money because the court’s been super generous.”
There’s been some public concern about the fate of the only beach front eatery that called the island home, Mikel Mays.
The boarded up restaurant is the only additional part of the structure that remains.
“We’re not going to tear it down,” Cross said. “There’s a way to repair it and give it the same 50 year life span that the pier is going to have.”
The next Coastal Parks Board meeting will be on Feb 23.
“Right now we are still on point, on task to have the same length of pier, diamond shape pier at the end, the width at 20 is what we are going for and right now, (and) the platform that the restaurant sits on,” Cross said. “I think the engineers will have designed out where we’re going with the pier itself, where we’re going with the restaurant itself and where we’re going with repairs and where we are in the budget.”
Cross said after the board meeting, they will hopefully have their recommendation to the commissioner’s court.
“I wanted to wait till we got done with updating the court and this last park board meeting to make sure there are not other changes,” Cross said.
Cross said the permitting process said could take more than six months. Once the final design is voted on, they’ll take bids on construction. He said work won’t likely begin until sometime in 2024.
