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ow do the citizens and the Town of Oriental move ahead with construction of a new, second town dock? That’s the question before the Town Dock Advisory Committee which held its first meeting on Wednesday morning at Town Hall.

The Town’s lot as seen from across Oriental’s harbor. The new town dock would be built in the area occupied by the short pilings, on the right side of the picture. The dock would come out at an angle from the land and be approximately parallel to the Chris Fulcher dock at the left, in the photo. (The existing Town Dock on Hodges Street is further in the harbor, to the left.)

Members of the Town Dock Advisory Committee present were Jim Edwards, Roland Pare and Art Tierney. (Absent were Bill Arndt and Barbara Venturi.) Acting in an advisory role was Town Manager Bob Maxbauer.

The new town dock is to be built from the end of South Avenue, on land the town controls and will jut out in to Oriental’s harbor. It has been promoted as a place for boats to tie up — whether for an hour or a few days — so that the boaters can visit Oriental. Currently, the 82 feet of waterfront at the end of South Avenue is vacant, except for a few rows of abandoned pilings. They are the remnants of a one-time pier and run from the shoreline toward the main channel of Oriental’s harbor.

An overhead view of the existing and second town docks. The new dock would be approximately parallel to the Chris Fulcher dock and docks at Oriental Marina, to the right of it.

Town Manager Bob Maxbauer, who is the point person for the Town in dealing with the permits for the project, urged the committee to focus on “what does this thing look like?” A rough idea of the structure’s parameters was needed he said, so that a basic sketch could be drawn up. Maxbauer noted these plans wouldn’t need to be perfect or even bear an engineer’s stamp but that they could serve as a working document and possibly be part of a grant application. (About which more in a moment.)

But before plans can be drawn up, some particulars have to be decided. For one: how wide a dock?

For purposes of comparison, the existing Oriental Town Dock located on Hodges Street is 57 feet long and 10 feet wide. The Lou Mac fishing pier off of South Avenue is approximately as wide but longer and has a “T” platform at its end.

Wednesday morning, the narrowest dock width discussed by the committee was 5 feet. Jim Edwards said one way to accomplish that was to use a 4-foot cement section known as a “hog slat” (as used in the Lou Mac pier) as the central section and then boarded on either side with a 6-inch timber, creating an ultimate width of 5 feet. But Edwards said it was probably too narrow.

Edwards suggested that a wider layout be considered. Two 4-foot wide cement sections could be laid side by side, he said, to create a wider 8-foot wide dock. Depending on the size of the side boards, that dock could also be as wide as the existing Town Dock.

The Lou Mac pier design. A similar deck design was proposed by the committee for the new, second, town dock. Two 4-foot cement sections, known as hog slats, make up the central section. Framing those, along the pier’s length, are wood beams.

A closer look at the Lou Mac pier. The two concrete sections in the center are hog slats. They are secured to the pier’s main structure with heavy bolts. The wood beam spanning them serves as a timber reinforcement.

Another big question to answer is how long the new town dock should be. For that, all riparian and property lines must be understood. CAMA will also have a say in how long the structure can be. For navigation and permitting purposes, Maxbauer says that a “first realistic number” for the pier would be approximately 112 feet.

Initial suggestions had been for a dock 130 feet out from the beach — and more than 100 feet out over the water. This summer however, the Town learned that the Army Corps of Engineers map of the harbor shows a red line about 80 feet out. To build beyond that requires some extra permitting from, among others, the state’s Coastal Area Management Act office.

Maxbauer says “we know what CAMA will allow” in terms of permitting, but adds that he doesn’t want to let the need for additional permitting — more is required, the wider and longer the dock gets — restrict dock dimensions at this stage of planning.

At its Wednesday meeting the Town Dock Advisory Committee also discussed how high the dock should be above the water, and how tall the pilings would stand above the dock. (A consideration: making the pilings tall enough so boat lines could hold steady in a storm surge.)

The option of putting a “T” — or wider area — at the end of the dock also was talked about. Committee member Art Tierney noted that while a “T” design would offer extra berthing room, it would restrict vessel maneuvers. He suggested a straight pier would be more practical.

The view from the vacant lot where then new lot is to be built. In the foreground are pilings from an old structure. They would be removed to allow for dredging and construction of the new pier.

To pay for getting the pier built, the Town Manger suggested there were two approaches. The first plan would be for the town to cover the full cost of the project on its own. At the May Town Meeting, the Town Board approved using $27,000 from the waterfront development fund that’s financed by the Town’s Occupancy Tax. (More than $150,000 sits in that fund.)

Maxbauer says there’s an additional funding source as well and suggested “we do this with assistance” from the Boating Infrastructure Grant Program. That’s a federal grant program that focuses on building up temporary docking for transient boats at least 26-feet long that are staying 10 days or less. The grant money can be used to build docks, for certain types of dredging, and drawing up engineer-approved drawings based on preliminary sketches.

The grant program would provide matching funds, with 75% coming from the grant and the town having to put up the other 25%. Dave Cox, the former town commissioner who lead the effort to win the court case over the South Avenue property, noted that the Town has already budgeted $27,000 and that that “could be leveraged, with potential grant money, into $108,000.”

The grant-writing brings up another consideration for the Town Dock Advisory Committee: dredging the waters off of South Avenue

The waters in which the new town dock is to be located are shallower than previously thought. Last month, an unofficial sounding by a Town Commissioner and a Town Dock Committee member found that 80 feet out, the waters were just a few feet deep. It is thought that the water gets deeper a little further out, but for visiting cruising boats that require more than 2-3 feet under their keels, much of the dock would not be usable.

Additionally, Town Manager Maxbauer noted that to qualify for a Boating Infrastructure Grant to cover this type of project, the pier “would need to prepare for minimum draft accommodation of 6 feet.”

Committee members at the meeting agreed that dredging would be needed, and that it would be best to dredge initially and then build the pier. If done in reverse order, as some have suggested, the dredging operation would have to work around the newly constructed structure; as some committee members noted, that runs the risk of damaging the new dock. Additionally, over time, undredged material under the pier could spill over into the dredged portions, leading to reduced water depths.

(It was, however, proposed that the deep dredging stop short of the shoreline. That way, it was suggested, some undredged bottom and shallow water would remain to allow the launch of small water craft such as kayaks.)

The Town Manager noted there is a certain urgency to get ducks in a row on this project. The closing date for Boating Infrastructure Grant Program applications is August 5, 2011. (A grant decision would be returned in March 2012.)

Progress was made in Wednesday’s meeting but new issues were raised. They include determining funding for dredging, the status of the new dock as a safe harbor in storm conditions and additional details on pier length. Bob Maxbauer says he will be personally visiting three agencies — CAMA, the US Army Corps of Engineers and the NC Division of Marine Fisheries in Morehead City — to discuss these issues.

The Town Dock Advisory Committee meets again Tuesday, July 26 at 8a. The meeting is at Town Hall and open to the public.

Posted Thursday July 21, 2011 by Bernie Harberts