Two years ago, when the Port Authority donated funding to Hoboken to restore and renovate its Hudson River waterfront pier, Weehawken Mayor Richard Turner wondered whether the same thing could happen to the decaying piers of the township, as well as piers in West New York, where Turner serves as the business administrator.
“(West New York Mayor and State Assembly Speaker) Albio Sires and I liked the idea of keeping the piers open to the general public,” Turner said. “All of the piers were once used for industrial purposes and were left to decay. When Hoboken restored theirs, we wanted to do the same for Weehawken and West New York.”
There was only one obstacle – receiving the funding to do the pier restorations. Neither of the state Department of Environmental Protection funding sources, the Open Space Preservation Act nor the Green Acres Fund program provided contingencies for pier restoration.
“We wanted to do something about it, so Albio worked to change the regulations to include the restoration of piers, as long as their dedicated for public use,” Turner said. “It’s an urban issue, because the piers are only located in urban areas. But there wasn’t a single pier dedicated to public use. No one ever thought about it before. We submitted applications to the DEP to see what would happen.”
Last Thursday, representatives from the state DEP came to West New York to announce that both towns would receive grants that will enable both to restore and refurbish existing piers and turn them into easy access open areas where pedestrians could enjoy the waterfront.
Weehawken will receive $800,000 to restore the pier directly adjacent to the existing pier that features the Chart House Restaurant. As part of an existing agreement with the township to receive full development of its land holdings in Lincoln Harbor, Hartz Mountain Industries will match the grant that will lead to the restoration of the pier.
West New York will receive $780,000 in a grant and an additional $120,000 in a low-interest loan to restore its pier.
“It’s really been a goal for the last 15 years to do something with that area,” Turner said. “It’s a great way for allowing people to get to the river.”
The Weehawken pier stretches 300 feet into the river and is about 100 feet wide. Because of age and wear, the pier is in slight decay and will need a lot of tedious work to restore it, especially finding out the conditions of the existing pilings.
“We have to make evaluations of the pilings to see which ones are safe to build on,” Turner said. “We also have to present plans for the pier to the DEP, so that process may take three to five years, depending on the conditions of the pilings.”
But when it is completed, the pier will be a part of a 16-acre open space area, complete with both recreational areas and open space.
“After Liberty State Park, it will become the biggest open space area on the waterfront,” Turner said. “We’re ecstatic about it. It shows that things are moving along. Everyone worked well together on this project. It’s been a long process and it’s far from over, but we’re making the effort to get this foundation in place.”