Pier planned for Bogue Banks

The Town of Emerald Isle and the N.C. Aquariums announced plans today for an ocean fishing pier on Bogue Banks at the site of a pier wiped out after hurricanes in 1996.

The 1,000-foot concrete pier would be one of three state-owned piers operated in conjunction with aquariums at Manteo, Pine Knoll Shores and Fort Fisher.

Plans call for the $12.2 million project to be completed in five years.

Town officials tried unsuccessfully to establish a public pier at the site of the privately owned Bogue Inlet Fishing Pier. The current project would be built several miles east of Bogue Inlet on N.C. Highway 58 at the site of the former Emerald Isle Pier that was dismantled after storm damage.

Town Manager Frank Rush Jr. said the current project would be larger and closer to the aquarium than the previously planned pier.

The town, which has operated a beach access area at the 4.2 acre site, will transfer the property worth $5.5 million to the state. Aquarium officials are seeking $4 million from the new N.C. Waterfront Access and Marine Industry Fund for the coastwide effort with $2 million earmarked as initial funding for "The Aquarium Pier on Emerald Isle."

The remaining construction cost will be funded through a combination of N.C. Aquarium admission receipts, future grant requests, local government contributions, and a private fund raising campaign, according to a town release.

The proposal calls for construction of the pier to begin in 2010, with the new pier complete and open to the public in 2012.

David Griffin, director of the N.C. Aquariums, said the three-pier project is "a logical intersection of the N.C. Aquariums' mission and the need to preserve the ocean pier experience for current and future generations of North Carolinians."