Disposition of Old Fuller Warren

[scongro]

I completely agree with you, and I hope my post did not insinuate that he was not polite. I've never been at a council meeting in person, but it's tape delayed on channel 7 after each meeting, and I watch often (I try to see parts of every meeting).

The gentleman was pretty polite, and not disrespectful (maybe a little monotonous). I agree that this probably was not the best way the get your point across (after a while, it probably bored the council), but whenever I see anything about the old Fuller Warren, I do think of him.

[Urban_Legend]

Old bridge or new pier?

Original structure stays in limbo

by Bradley Parsons

Staff Writer

Depending on who’s talking, a plan to turn the wreckage of the old Fuller Warren Bridge into a fishing pier is either too expensive to consider or too valuable an opportunity to ignore.

The opposition is led by the Florida Department of Transportation, which is still searching for an environmentally palatable way to continue demolition. The FDOT maintains that saving the bridge would cost the City up to $10 million and could damage the new Fuller Warren Bridge built just to the west of the old structure.

The campaign to transform the old bridge’s remains into a Southbank walking or fishing pier have been led by former State Rep. Andy Johnson, now a radio talk show host and candidate for the City’s vacant supervisor of elections office.

The plan has drawn support from the Greater Arlington Civic Council and U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown and one of the area’s most avid fishermen, State Sen. Jim King, has said the idea is worth looking into as an alternative to demolition, which could damage the river.

“There’s not much that I agree with Jim King and Corrine Brown about,” said Johnson, a former political opponent of both. “But we all agree that it’s stupid to tear down that bridge if it’s going to hurt the river.”

The FDOT halted demolition in 2002 when the Environmental Protection Agency began an investigation into unpermitted dumping of debris into the river.

The FDOT is now considering a demolition plan that would catch debris with a submerged barge but that plan can’t go ahead without approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Corps is waiting on an environmental impact study before it considers the new plan, providing a window for preservation proponents to present alternatives.

The idea of converting the half-demolished bridge into a fishing pier isn’t new.

Former Mayor John Delaney opposed the idea in 2000 after receiving a negative recommendation from Public Works. The City’s study found the concept too expensive. At minimum, the City would have to reimburse the demolition contractor $460,000 and spend $300,000 to install amenities like handrails, lighting and toilets.

The FDOT estimates the total cost could approach $10 million. In addition to the costs cited by the 2000 study, the City would have to study the effects of a permanent pier on the new Fuller Warren Bridge.

A fishing pier could alter currents, damaging supports on the new bridge, said FDOT spokesperson Mike Goldman.

“Just the fact of having currents going between two bridges presents that possibility,” said Goldman. “It might not be significant now, but as a permanent structure, it could be significant, but no matter what the City would have to pay to study it.”

The costs were the most frequently cited reason for City Hall’s opposition to a fishing pier. However, local government opinion has softened a bit recently.

Mayor John Peyton is now considering the idea after being inspired, he said, by a visit to the public pier at Jacksonville Beach. Support is also growing on the City Council to at least study the idea.

The FDOT’s opinion hasn’t changed. “We want to tear it down,” said Goldman. If Peyton wants to pursue a fishing pier, it will be on the City’s dime, he said.

“The ball is in the mayor’s court,” said Goldman. “We are not in the fishing pier maintenance business. If he wants to assume liability costs, operations costs and the cost of repairs, then that’s up to him. We don’t have the money to do that.”

Opponents have raised objections beyond the cost.

Jacksonville Waterways Commission member Carter Bryan said the commission’s consensus was against the idea of a pier and said fishing piers inevitably become cluttered with fish remains, bait and trash.

In a recent letter to Peyton, he said public fishing facilities look “more like a trash dump,” and said the old Fuller Warren would end up the same.

One other problem: due to quick currents in the area, Bryan said the location “would be an extremely poor place to catch any fish.”

If fishing fallout becomes an issue, Johnson said he’d gladly accept a fishing ban on the pier. The point, he said, is to provide easy public access to the St. Johns River for those who can’t afford a boat.