A little used public pier next to the Breakwater Yacht Club will be removed at the club’s expense to provide space for it to tie up more boats at its own dock. The club will also rent additional spaces on the east side of the village dinghy dock, which is currently not accessible, because it is blocked by the pier.
The Village Board agreed to the arrangement when it met on October 13. The proposal will be reviewed by the village Harbor Committee as well, when it meets on November 5.
“We’ve seen vastly increased demand in people interested in sailing and people wanting to learn how to sail,” the club’s commodore, Luke Babcock, told the board. To accommodate growing demand, the club has purchased more boats. “The missing link,” he added, “is room to keep those boats.”
The pier in question is about 100 feet long and sits on the site of a dock that was used by barges to deliver heating oil to a facility owned by the Mobil Oil Company. Village Harbormaster Bob Bori said this week the tank farm was used until the mid-1970s before it was closed. The tanks, which were on land south of the Breakwater Yacht Club, were removed years ago.
After acquiring the pier from Mobil, the village rebuilt it and added an octagon platform at the end, which Trustee James Larocca said was rarely used, except as a place to take wedding photos. The pier is also in the shadow of the village wastewater treatment plant, which might also help explain why it doesn’t attract more people.
Mr. Babcock said the octagon platform is “a chokepoint” for access to both the Breakwater dock on its east side, and the village dinghy dock on its west side.
“The pier is not only never used, but it is also starting to decay and would cost the village a significant amount to bring it up to standards,” he added.
Mr. Larocca agreed the pier is too close to the Breakwater dock for someone to be able to turn a sailboat around, and its close proximity to the dinghy dock make that dock’s east side unusable.
Although Trustee Aiden Corish suggested it might make the most sense to remove the entire pier, Mr. Larocca convinced his fellow board members to allow the first 20-to-25 feet to remain to allow some public access to the waterfront. Mr. Babcock said the yacht club was “agnostic” as to whether the entire pier should be removed or a portion saved.
The board did not discuss how much it would charge the yacht club to rent the dinghy dock space or how much it would cost the yacht club to remove the old pier.
Stephen J. Kotz on Oct 28, 2020