There is no readily apparent reason the demolished Manatee Public Beach pier cannot be replicated.
U.S. Coast Guard regulations don’t prohibit it.
Nor do Florida Department of Environmental Protection rules.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would not confirm whether it would allow such a structure without a submitted plan.
Manatee County commissioners unanimously approved a proposal in March 2009 to replace the failing structure with a new 15-foot-tall pier — twice as high.
The replacement pier was never built.
It’s been widely reported the former 300-foot-long pier on the Gulf of Mexico at the Manatee Public Beach in Holmes Beach would have to be rebuilt twice as high as the previous 7.5-foot high pier, which would mean a corresponding increase in length to support the structure.
But the county proposal didn’t have to be so big, according to DEP and Coast Guard officials.
“There is nothing in our regulations that would require it,” a spokesman for Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. George Menzie, of the public affairs detachment in Clearwater, said in an April 19 phone call with The Islander.
Lt. Noah Miller later confirmed the Coast Guard position.
“We wouldn’t have any issue with it,” he said.
Shannon Herbon, public information manager, said the pier could be rebuilt to its former size as far as the DEP is concerned.
“We don’t have a regulation that would require a pier to be at a certain height,” Herbon said.
The DEP would primarily be concerned about the impact on seagrasses, she said.
“Certain scenarios might require a certain heightline,” Herbon added.
Manatee County natural resources department director Charlie Hunsicker — on vacation, according to staff — was unavailable to answer emails and calls for comment.
Holmes Beach commissioners balked at building a larger structure and voted unanimously March 1 not to request funding for a pier from Manatee County.
If commissioners knew the pier could be rebuilt precisely as it was, the vote may have been different. Commission Chair Judy Titsworth lit up when told it may be possible to rebuild the pier to its former dimensions.
“That would be awesome,” Titsworth said April 19 at the Holmes Beach code enforcement public forum. “I’d love that, because that’s what people wanted.”
Titsworth’s and other commissioners’ reluctance to request funding involved their perception a larger pier would be an eyesore, Titsworth said, when they voted against the project.
The city commission vote followed a request from Manatee County Commissioner Carol Whitmore, a former Holmes Beach mayor and commissioner, who asked if her hometown wanted funding to rebuild the pier.
The pier, a county-maintained beach, was demolished after an engineer’s report deemed it unsafe in February 2009.
Reconstruction costs were estimated eight years ago by Hunsicker at $1.5 million to $2.5 million plus $100,000 in planning and permitting fees. He said it would take about five months to secure necessary permits from the DEP and the Corps with another six months for construction.
Hunsicker projected at the time the new pier could be ready by January 2010.
Whitmore, chair of the Manatee County Tourist Development Council, said at the time the TDC would provide $1.4 million and county revenues would cover the balance of the cost.
County commissioners voted to replace the pier, but a 2010 county permit to rebuild expired without action in 2015.
All construction projects in the waters off Anna Maria Island require permits from the Corps, and the Coast Guard provides input on any navigational concerns, according to Miller.