Decking installed at Milton Pier

By Mark Reynolds
Posted 6/16/21

Last week the long-awaited decking for the southern pier at the Milton Landing arrived and was lowered into place by a crane.

The decking was made in Westchester County, assembled in Verplanck …

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Decking installed at Milton Pier

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Last week the long-awaited decking for the southern pier at the Milton Landing arrived and was lowered into place by a crane.

The decking was made in Westchester County, assembled in Verplanck and brought 30 miles north by barge to Milton.

Randy King Jr., of the contractor Arben Group, said installing the pilings that the deck will go on has been challenging. He said when a river bottom is soft mud, the pilings will easily go in about 15 feet and not move but at the Milton site, “the bottom is very stiff so maybe they go in 4 or 5 feet and it is a very steep slope and we have actually fallen off before. Even with 60 foot pilings, if we go our 20 feet we can’t catch the bottom anymore.”

King said just offshore the river drops to 35 feet and a little farther out it hits a depth of 60 feet. Because of this deep water King said, “you can dock anything here.”
King said besides the decking, an 8 ft wide by 80 ft long aluminum gangway will also be installed, allowing safe access to the pier. He said it was made in the Speculator in upstate New York.

“Because of its large size it is very difficult to build but it’s beautiful, it’s really a work of art,” he said.

King said the pilings will be integrated into the project in a way that retains the original look of the old pier, but added that, “when you do rebuilds, it’s harder than construction.”

Supervisor Al Lanzetta said this piece at the landing has been 12 years in the making, calling it a “dream come true for everybody that was involved. The Town Board was behind it from day one and we floated a $1.2 million bond and got a $313,000 Consolidated Funding Application grant but we’re still looking for money to help us out.”

Lanzetta said when he was Supervisor in 2009 the town bought the 15 acre property, which includes a section on Sands Avenue, for $950,000 with funding split evenly between Scenic Hudson and the New York State Department of Parks and Recreation. Later town firemen cleared the parcel of a significant amount of debris and brush and later rehabilitated the northern pier.

Lanzetta said fixing the southern pier, “is a game changer because people can soon dock at the pier and go up to our wineries and our farms. We foresee an economic windfall for the town.” He deflects credit for the overall project, instead saying that the vision and support for the pier and the entire Landing project came from the Town Board and the community.

For the past two years, Arica McCarthy, who works for the environmental and landscaping consulting firm Tighe and Bond, has been coordinating the project plans and the bidding process, while updating the town on the timeline of the work.

“It’s so nice to see it going in and fun to see plans coming to life,” she said. “The railings and the gangway going in will be the finishing touches. It’s going to be nice to see the whole thing put together.”

Councilman Scott Corcoran said the pier, “is a great symbol for the Landing and was a long time coming. I think everybody that’s been involved in this is extremely happy.”

Councilman Alan Koenig has been involved in the Landing and the pier project from the beginning.
“This has come a long way from clearing the land, refurbishing the [northern] pier and building a smaller one, but this southern pier has always been the group’s ultimate goal,” he said. “It is great to see an ending to this journey and I’m looking forward to seeing people enjoying this now. It makes us all proud and this is a huge asset to the town.” He thanked Gael Appler Jr. for his leadership and hard work in clearing the land and working on the northern pier. Koenig predicts that the town will see a significant uptick in tourism once the pier is finished.

Councilman Howard Baker said the pier may eventually become a regional attraction. He said because of the work of Jerry and Rosemary Wein in obtaining the $313,000 CFA grant, “now the Empire State Development Agency knows about Marlborough and might even have one of their meetings in our train station. So it gets us a little more on the map.”

Baker said the total pier project was initially bid at $1,578,648. After construction began the contractor found extensive deterioration of the wood pilings, leading them to suggest installing a number of steel pilings, which increased the project cost by $75,000 to a new total of $1,653,648. This additional cost was approved by the Town Board and was taken from the town’s general fund.

Jerry Wein said his wife Rosemary has been the driving force in the grant process, especially in securing all of the needed permits. The couple initially obtained a $40,000 grant from the New York State Hudson River Estuary program that paid for an engineering study on what was needed at the Landing. This led to their applying for and receiving a $313,000 CFA grant through the New York State Empire Development Corporation.

“I think the state saw a tremendous potential here for both recreation and for driving economic development,” he said. “I’m really, really happy to see this actually happen; it’s a great day.”

Rosemary said they recently applied for another grant with the estuary program for an accessible kayak launch. The type of launch will also be able to accommodate the elderly as well as someone who is wheelchair bound, “so you don’t have to worry about falling or pushing yourself out.” The town will be going back for a CFA grant for a number of amenities to complete the Landing park, such as new border fencing.

Former Town Board member Mici Simonofsky described this stage in the Landing project as “totally historic. I am just so very, very excited.”
Simonofsky recently spent time looking at old pictures of the Landing, “and this is just a reinvention of what Milton has been since its inception. It’s going to be a docking and boating community again.”

Tim Lawton, who served on a town committee at the time of the land purchase, said he visits the Landing on a fairly regular basis.

“This is going to be great to come down to and just be and enjoy the river. I am excited that we’re going to have the kind of facility for tourist boats to come in. Being able to take in a larger boat could be very beneficial to the town,” he said. “It’s just such a milestone to see this finally occur and really gratifying to see this coming together.”