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| 11/7/2009 10:25:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Examiner photo illustration |
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| Dmitri Scharznau |
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The People's Pier
Proposal to convert the old causeway bridge on Pleasure Island into a fishing pier faces tough odds
James Shannon
Mid & South County Editor
This article originally appeared in the Oct. 30 edition of The Examiner.
Dmitri Scharznau watched the new causeway bridge nearing completion on Highway 82 in Pleasure Island from a front row seat - her family's convenience store at the foot of the bridge that connects Texas and Louisiana.
Built in 1982 by her grandfather, Virgil Bailey, the SGS Causeway Bait, Tackle & Grill was essentially destroyed then rebuilt after Hurricanes Rita and Ike and remains a popular spot with sportsmen eager to catch redfish in the adjacent waterway.
Ever since the fishing pier at Walter Umphrey State Park just across the road was closed after being severely damaged by Ike, area fishermen have scrambled to find new places to get their lines in the water.
The swing bridge that the new causeway bridge will replace is slated for demolition after the new bridge opens in late November or early December of this year, which gave Scharznau an idea. Why not take at least part of the old bridge for use as a fishing pier?
"It seemed stupid to tear something down that could still be used," she reasoned. Scharznau said she got plenty of encouragement from fishermen who heard the idea, so she organized a petition drive with one goal in mind - save the old causeway bridge and turn it into a fishing pier. After two weeks, she had already collected more than 500 signatures. At press time, the count had grown to more than 800 and counting with signatures still being collected at Causeway Bait, Tackle & Grill as well as Judice's French Market at 3005 Seventh Street in Port Arthur and Sharky's Grill at 540 South Levee Road on Pleasure Island near the RV park.
Scharznau said when she gets 1,000 signatures - which could come any day - she will present the petition to Jefferson County and the city of Port Arthur in an attempt to enlist their support for the idea.
She should find a receptive ear from Commissioner Michael "Shane" Sinegal, the newest member of Commissioner's Court in whose Precinct 3 the bridge is located.
"I was getting calls before I took office in January from people wanting to keep that bridge as a fishing pier," said Sinegal, who warned it would not be a simple process. "I told them I had to rely on engineering surveys about the status of the bridge before we could even consider accepting it."
Jeff Branick, assistant to County Judge Ron Walker, said he was intrigued when he first heard the idea - until he started checking around. He talked to Assistant County Engineer Don Rao, who was formerly an engineering specialist with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).
"Don was with TxDOT for years as an engineer and is very familiar with the roads and bridges in the area," said Branick. In addition to listing structural problems with the bridge, he said Rao told him that bringing a fishing pier into compliance with the Americans with Disability Act would be an expensive proposition.
Branick and Sinegal agreed that there were two immediate problems that would have to be solved before a fishing pier conversion could be attempted - the cost of the project and any liability that would arise from the county going into the fishing pier business.
"If it's something we can do with Parks and Wildlife, beach people and fisheries - get everybody in a partnership to try and cut the cost, because the county can't afford it right now," said Sinegal. "People think you can just barricade it off and call it a pier, but there are a lot of liabilities that go along with it plus lighting the bridge and even creating a turnaround for access to that pier - if we kept it as a pier."
For SinegaI, it is not an idle proposition. He encouraged Scharznau when she began her petition drive and said he has been actively seeking support in other quarters.
"I spoke to Rep. (Allen) Ritter and have a meeting set with Rep. (Joe) Deshotel to see if we can get some type of state funding to help offset the cost for the county," he said.
Branick said Jefferson County is moving ahead with plans to use $700,000 in FEMA money to rebuild the pier in Walter Umphrey State Park, which would mitigate the need for another pier just a hundred yards away. In addition, proponents of the bridge conversion have received no encouragement from TxDOT - the owners of the bridge.
"It's going to be coming down," said TxDOT spokesman Marc Shepherd. "It's an old bridge; that's why we built a new bridge."
The old bridge is a swing bridge, with a center section that opens to allow vessels to enter or exit Sabine Lake. The ironworks at the center of bridge will be removed under any circumstances, but The Examiner was unable to confirm a widely circulated rumor that it had been purchased by a Beaumont man who plans to use it to ford a stream on his West Texas ranch.
The contention the old bridge had to be torn down because it was no longer suitable for traffic raised the question of why it was in continued daily use by vehicles including large trucks, which in turn prompted the following response from Shepherd:
"It's not an unstable bridge in the fact that it's dangerous or anything like that; it's worn out and it needs to be replaced. It's safe, but when you remove the traffic and put it on the new bridge, that (old) bridge is going to keep deteriorating. But if we thought it was unsafe, we'd just shut it down."
Another complication has been a decision by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development to delay demolition of their portion of the bridge, which is bisected by the Texas-Louisiana state line. The issue is the protected habitat of the barn swallow, which Shepherd said would delay - not prevent - the removal of the Louisiana half of the old bridge.
"It's not leaving it up - it's postponing the demolition," said Shepherd. "There is a certain time when those barn swallows habitat - from September to February is the time when you can tear it down. Anytime after that, you can't, so there will be a period of time when you have to keep it up and not mess with it until September of next year and then remove it."
Any hope that the Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPW) Department might collaborate on a plan to incorporate the bridge-as-fishing-pier with the adjacent Walter Umphrey State Park could be problematic because TPW officials insist that Walter Umphrey State Park is, in fact, not a state park.
Jimmie Dike, executive director of the Pleasure Island Commission, confirmed that account. The park opened in 1997 after Umphrey, a Beaumont attorney who was a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department commissioner in the 1990s, donated seven acres to Jefferson County. The county used a grant to develop the park, which is designated as a state park but still is county property.
"Mr. Umphrey owned some of that land down there and donated it for a park," said Dike. "I wrote the grant for the state funds to buy more land, with the donated land satisfying a match requirement."
The sign at the park's entrance reflects that complicated arrangement, with Jefferson County and state of Texas logos. Below the words "Walter Umphrey State Park" is a banner reading "A Texas Recreation & Parks Account Program Project" and the footnote "Sponsored by Jefferson County with funding assistance through the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department." The bottom line is that any bridge conversion project would likely be complicated by these overlapping agencies.
"When the county decided to take it over from the Pleasure Island Commission, they named it Walter Umphrey State Park," said Dike. "But if you go online and look at state parks of Texas, it's not listed as a state park. Of course if it was, the state would take care of it."
Dike, a tireless booster of all things Pleasure Island, signed Scharznau's petition and emphasized the need for a fishing pier on the island.
"Before it was closed after Ike, the pier at the park was heavily used," said Dike. "Not to the point where you couldn't get in, but when the moon is full and the wind is just right, then everybody comes out."
If the city or county want to do anything with the swing bridge - or even take a more in-depth look at the possibility of doing something - they better move fast. The new bridge is being funded by FEMA and included in the $21 million cost is $800,000 to remove the old bridge.
Shepherd told The Examiner the permit issued by the Coast Guard to construct the new bridge included a provision to remove the old bridge, and that any change in those plane would require new permits from the Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers.
Lurking beneath those difficult problems is the question of liability.
"There is a liability issue for us to keep it or for anybody to keep it," said Shepherd of TxDOT. "If a storm does come and float a portion of that bridge away and it washes it out and knocks over our new bridge, they're liable for the damage done to it. Louisiana at one time had considered taking their side over and using it as a fishing pier, but when they found out there was liability involved, they pretty much backed off."
He offered the slenderest reed of hope for the government agencies being petitioned by Scharznau.
"If any body wants to take it over, they can - they just have to assume full responsibility for it," said Shepherd.
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