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The popular fishing pier at Cape Henlopen State Park is closed and will stay that way indefinitely.
The first casualty of the closing is cancellation of the fourth annual Friends of the Cape Henlopen State Park Flounder Fishing Tournament scheduled for Saturday, May 17. As many as 100 anglers participate in the tournament each spring.
Park officials are preparing to fence off areas, in need of immediate repairs, needed to keep the pier open for another year. The pier will also need more rebuilding or possible replacement – at a cost of at least $15 million.
There is still a 50-50 chance the pier may not reopen until after the repairs are made, said Pat Cooper, Cape Henlopen State Park administrator. He said the repairs probably wouldn’t be completed until after the summer season depending on when funds become available.
That would be devastating, not only to the park, but to the City of Lewes and the local economy, Cooper said. “This is lot bigger than just closing a pier,” he said. “This is a big deal.”
Cooper also said making the repairs is nothing more than a patchwork approach to a much larger problem.
“The $150,000 repairs are not the end-all cure – that’s far from the truth,” he said. “There are other pilings with problems. We are fighting a losing battle and are in a quandary what to do.
“The best-case scenario would be to build a new pier, but there is no money for that.”
Cooper said estimates run as high as $7 million to repair the more than 580 pilings under the pier. And that would only extend the pier’s lifespan another six or seven years, he said. “And is that something we want to do?” he asked. “I think it would be like throwing money away.”
Cooper said until the areas are actually fenced off, state officials would not be able to determine whether to open the pier. “Our goal is to have it reopened, but we don’t want to rush into it and cause other problems,” Cooper said.
Problems with pilings
With warmer weather and fishing season starting, the pier has been closed for the second time in two years as a result of structure problems.
Eighteen of the pier’s pilings, located throughout the 1,800-foot pier, have been identified in an engineering report supplied by Baker, Ingram & Associates of Dover as “requiring immediate repair in order to keep the entire inner portion of the pier open.”
Cooper said the creosote protecting the pilings is starting to wear off, exposing the wood to salt water.
The repairs are estimated at about $150,000 – funds the state has not budgeted.
Cooper said he is not sure where the funds will come from for the repairs – possibly from the General Assembly or possibly from the new fishing license revenue.
Rep. Joe Booth, R-Georgetown, said the $15 million to $16 million estimate is for a concrete pier. “Other options might be wise to do, considering the problems we are having with state funding,” he said. “The pier is extremely popular and a benefit to the local economy – the state should get into it. It’s just coming at a bad time.”
In addition to the 18 pilings needing immediate repair, the report identifies 146, or 25 percent, of the pilings of the inner portion of the pier that have little or no support capacity.
“This may have a long-term effect on the thousands of anglers and visitors who use the pier on a daily basis during the season,” said Charles Salkin, director of Delaware State Parks. “But public safety is paramount.”
The pier has outlived its expected lifespan, said Britt Murray, construction projects administrator for Delaware State Parks. The wooden pier was built during World War II by the Department of the Army and has undergone limited rehabilitation over the years, Murray said.
Railings and decking were replaced 12 years ago and in 2006, 10 pilings were repaired to allow for the reopening of a 1,200-foot section of the pier that had been closed. The 600-foot seaward section of the pier, including the T-head, has been closed since that time because of safety concerns.
Contact Ron MacArthur at ronm@capegazette.com
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