City won't use FEMA funds to rebuild fishing bridge
City Manager says grants could be used for other projects
BY PAM BRANNON Gulf Breeze News news@gulfbreezenews.com

Franklin Hayes/Gulf Breeze News The Pensacola Bay Fishing Bridge, pictured above, was heavily damaged by hurricanes in 2004 and 2005.

The hurricane ravaged fishing bridge alongside the Pensacola Bay Bridge will soon be coming down. There are only sections left of the fishing bridge between Gulf Breeze and Pensacola that for decades was maintained by the City of Gulf Breeze.

Gulf Breeze City Manager Edwin 'Buz' Eddy took a request to the Santa Rosa County Commission last week for approval of a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) application for monies to take down the remaining sections of the fishing bridge. The county approved Eddy's request to move ahead with the process.

County Commission Chair Tom Stewart said since Gulf Breeze has been the agency to maintain the bridge all this time, they should definitely be the one to apply for the funds to take it down. There will also be FEMA funds coming to the city for the loss of the bridge.

City Manager Eddy said, "We will not be seeking funds to replace any of the pier. Instead, we will be using the monies from FEMA for other things, like perhaps a waste transfer station that would benefit the entire county. That is one project we are considering."

He said city government has been maintaining the fishing pier since 1972.

County Commissioner John Broxson of Gulf Breeze said, "Gulf Breeze City has been a great caretaker of that fishing bridge. And a lot of fishermen from both sides of the Bay have used that pier. Is there any chance that with enough FEMA funds the city might be considering building or repairing that bridge?"

Eddy said, "If you were to hold a gun to my head right here right now and ask if we intend to rebuild a fishing pier there, I would have to say as of right now, no, we are not going to build a fishing pier. If all permitting problems could be taken care of, if you didn't have environmental issues from the state to face, if you didn't have to put the pilings right back in the exact same spot where they were, if all things worked together perfectly, then maybe we could rebuild it. But there are so many problems, it does not look feasible. You cannot just go in there and put a band aid on it. The state won't allow that."