Make sure to visit Jennette's Pier at Milepost 16.5 in Nags Head, North Carolina (NC) in 2010:
The head of North Carolina's aquarium agency says he hopes a rebuilt pier on the Outer Banks will be open for use by 2010. North Carolina Aquariums director David Griffin said the agency will begin seeking bids this week on the Jennette's Pier project, The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk reported Monday.
The $15 million project would rebuild the pier to 1,000 feet and design it to withstand hurricanes of 130 mph. The pier would include alternative energy generators and a 200-seat meeting area.
Jennette's Pier was demolished this year to clear the way for the new project. The original pier was built in 1939 and lost about 540 feet of length during Hurricane Isabel in 2003. The state acquired the pier last year.
"We hope to have an opening of May 2010," Griffin said. "We feel like this will be a huge addition to the Whalebone area, Nags Head and the entire county - and not just for fishing and beach access, but for educational purposes as well. "It will be a very solid building but also very green."
Plans are to locate three 100-foot wind turbines along the pier to reduce electrical costs, said Nags Head Planning Director Tim Wilson. A geothermal system for heating and cooling and a rain collection system also are in the plans.
According to an important study, Jennette's Pier gets about 0.19% of the shore (i.e., beach, bank, rip rap, pier and etc) fishing trips in NC. According to NMFS, there were 3.9 million shore fishing trips in NC in 2007. According to some fancy math conducted by an elitist academic economist, Jennette's Pier gets about 6630 visitors a year (0.0017*3.9 million). Using a fancy math formula from Tim's book (the paperback is available for $36), the economic value of each of these trips is about $4.58/trip. In perpetuity at a 2% discount rate, the social value of Jennette's Pier for fishing (at historical participation levels) is about $1.5 million. The social net benefit -$13.5 million. Ouch.
Note: I welcome additional estimates of the value of the three 100-foot wind turbines.
