LONG BRANCH — The City Council is expected to meet with engineering firms for the second phase of the design work for the proposed pier and ferry terminal within the next month.
Mayor Adam Schneider said the council is considering at least three options for the award of the next design contract for the project, which has been in the works since 2005.
“We’re in the process of evaluating proposals from engineering firms to move on with the next phase of the site work,” he said. “I actually have homework to do in the next couple of days about it.”
Schneider said the city originally scheduled the Nov. 24 council executive session to interview the three firms, but a busy agenda will push the interviews back to one of the December council meetings.
In 2009, the city awarded a contract for the first phase of the design process to New York-based McLaren Engineering Group. Since then, the council has signed off on a preliminary concept design for the pier and a tentative list of amenities that include retail and public spaces, restaurants, a public winter garden, an outdoor amphitheater, entertainment space, a fishing area and a children’s play area.
Schneider said that while the city will remain flexible with some of the potential uses on the pier, the overall plan for the pier and ferry remains the same.
“Our goals remain the same, which is a pier design with transportation and other uses on the pier, with the ferry being the main goal,” he said. “As we go through it, the transportation issues are just so important to us that we are not giving up on it until it is proven to be very difficult.”
However, he also said there may be a scenario in which the ferry would not be feasible.
“It’s always been the goal, and the ferry still makes so much sense,” Schneider said. “There’s a lot there that would make it difficult to think it’s going to happen, but on the other hand, the federal government sees the boost it will give to the local economy.
“The next phase we have to work at and we are cautiously optimistic, but it’s a lot of work.”
Schneider said he is not putting a timeline on when the project may be completed.
“There’ll be timelines in what they have to do and when they have to do it, but let’s say we come up with the world’s best plan and [state agencies] say it’s the world’s best plan, then we have to find the money,” he said.
The high-speed ferry terminal and docking facility would provide a direct route from the Long Branch area to lower Manhattan at a travel time of 40 minutes. The pier would contain a docking system, and the ticketing and waiting areas required for the ferry operation.
The design includes about 77,000 square- feet of commercial space, including a 20,000 square-foot club that could host concerts year-round and a 10,000 square foot wedding venue.
Much of the contracts awarded for the design work have been funded using grants secured by Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-Monmouth, Middlesex).
An amusement pier had been a fixture of the Long Branch beachfront for decades and was the sight of the popular Haunted Mansion and a children’s amusement park. The pier was destroyed in a June 1987 fire. The remnants continued to deteriorate until 2001, when the pier was demolished.