2019. Graphic from the OGCMA. Proposed future fishing pier. To be financed by the new American Treasure Fund.
Sanibel: The capital T at the end provides unobstructed views of the Gulf.
Sanibel: A fisherman cleans his haul of sheepshead along the edge of the pier.
By Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger. The CMA told us about the cross design for the new pier in 2019.
2015: We asked readers to suggest designs for the pier, but we got few takers. We suggested a capital T as is found on Sanibel Island.
We have been discussing Piergate from 2015 to 2019 on Blogfinger . Of course it wasn’t called “Piergate” until the dedication of the cross design in 2022.
2019 update: This year the CMA plans a major fund raising effort with several goals in mind including rebuilding the OG Fishing Pier.
The CMA released a diagram of the new pier (above—2019) which will be in the shape of a cross. But that shape should be quite functional, with more surface area for fishermen to fish and gawkers to gawk. There was no controversy then, and little until recently—2022.
The CMA wording* suggests that there will be no private fishing club. They say, “A new pier would be entirely open to the public…….”
* This quote is by Catherine L. Harrison, the CMA Capital Campaign Chair who is quoted on page 9 of the 2019 Summer Program Guide.
2022: Note that the CMA says nothing about fishing. It seems that the idea of a fishing club has been thrown overboard, but also the idea of fishing from the pier may be dead in the water as well. Notice that the CMA assiduously avoided mentioning the verb “to fish.”
I’m guessing, but maybe there are insurance or safety concerns or maybe their goal is to have religious programs out there and suggest that fish lovers go fishing at Wegmans. Click on title below.
CARLY SIMON:
Bob: The two part BF history of the pier covered that time when there were two piers. The north end version was part of a private bathing pavilion and was built by those owners. It was knocked over in a storm and never rebuilt.
The pier at Embury is owned by the CMA and they have declared that they want to retain control of that property, so, as you probably know,the Fishing Club will not be given the opportunity to finance this pier rebuilding.
Ralph del Campo, former interim CMA COO, promised that eventually, one way or another, the pier will be rebuilt, but nothing has been said publicly by them regarding a future design. They are interested in the history of the pier, so that will probably influence what they do, with or without the Fishing Club. Maybe they will also be interested in our ideas being currently voiced on this blog. —Paul
I don’t believe that the fishing pier is the only pier that OG has ever had, IIRC there was at least one other pier that was a part of the north end complex. Somebody paid for it, and I doubt it was the CMA or the municipality.
Since New Jersey remains the #1 or #2 state for taxes, I don’t think that it is reasonable to expect New Jersey’s shrinking body of taxpayers to fund the rebuilding of the pier. (Florida ranks around #31 for taxes, and probably has many more piers.)
There are (apparently) private funds available to pay for a new OG pier. Whoever pays for the pier rebuilding — if it ever happens — should do whatever they want with it. Fishing shack, if the fishing club pays for it or a gazebo, if the gazebo fans pay for it.
As for private New Jersey beach access roads – I agree it’s amazing. But the tonier municipalities in New Jersey have never seemed to want to do much of anything to encourage the riff-raff to visit or to stay.
It’s amazing when you go to a place like Florida and you can walk all the way to the end of the pier. I’m sure you’ve also been to the Naples Pier, which I think goes even farther out that the Sanibel one. Then you come home to NJ to the freezing cold and they don’t even give you access to look at the water on a pier in the freezing cold, not to mention barely provide a place to pee.
They are all owned by fishing clubs, or in the case of Ocean Grove, just washed away. I realize we can’t be like everybody else, but when you add that to all of the other “just doing it our way in Jersey” things, like paying to get on the beach, and the beach access weirdness in places like Sea Bright, it really starts to make us look absurd. I don’t think you should have structures built directly on public access points that are private.
I like the ‘T’ Idea, maybe the fishing club could have the right or left ends of the ‘T’ for their building, then everyone wins!
I respect the history of the fishing club and hate to interfere with the passionate pursuit of the members’ hobby, but the thing I’d like to see most is public access to the whole pier. I think that the end of the boardwalk should be for everyone to enjoy.
There are far more casual users of the pier than fishermen, and the ability to sit at the end of the pier and gaze out at the sea should be available to all. The club house looks quaint in pictures, but when you’re on the pier all it does is block the view.
The pier is better now for the public than it was before Sandy because now we can sit on the end and gaze eastward. I vote for no club house and a T at the end with benches facing the ocean. Make it big enough so that there’s room for both fishing and gazing at the horizon.