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Pier Closes For Repairs As Park Gets Face-Lift

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT

yhammett@tampatrib.com

Published: December 10, 2008

RIVERVIEW - A throttling during the treacherous 2004 hurricane season, coupled with years of battering and bruising from heavy boater use, have left Williams Park in need of a well-earned face-lift.

Work got under way Monday and is expected to continue for about two months.

The county plans to use $275,000 from the Florida Boating Improvement Fund to pay for repairs and upgrades to the fishing pier and boat launch.

While the pier will be closed during repairs, the boat ramp will remain open.

"The last time any major work was done there was on the boat ramps, about five years ago," said John Brill, spokesman for the Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department. Railings and decking for the pier haven't been replaced since they were first built in the early 1990s, he said.

"I can tell you, it's a very popular park," he said, "for fishermen who use the pier and boaters who launch there."

Pete Fowler, division manager for the department, said it is boaters who are paying for the improvements. The money that goes into the boating improvement fund comes from fees boaters pay when they register their vessels each year.

"When anybody registers a boat in Hillsborough County, based on the boat's length, we get everything but a small administrative fee that goes to the state," Fowler said. The money must be used to directly benefit boating.

"We get about $300,000 a year, but it does help," Fowler said.

The pier will get new decking, handrails and other needed general repairs. The park also will get a new paved parking area, boat fender bumpers, water fountains and sidewalks to the picnic areas.

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 865-1566.

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