Fall River Redevelopment Authority gets jump on city pier dockage

The permitting process is a long and complicated effort that involves a number of state and local approvals.

FALL RIVER — As work chugs along to revive the city pier, the Fall River Redevelopment Authority is moving on to a next step and preparing to hire a consultant to create conceptual designs and permitting services for dockage and moorings for the soon-to-be public recreational boating facility.

The permitting process is a long and complicated effort that involves a number of state and local approvals.

Bristol County Economic Development Consultants Vice President Kenneth Fiola Jr., whose agency provides management services to the redevelopment authority, said the idea is to have pre-permitting in place, similar to what was done at the biopark.

“My hope is once we get through the permitting process we can identify some funding to build the transient dockage and maybe create some additional moorings,” said Fiola.

A request for proposals was issued in June for the consultant services and on Wednesday the redevelopment authority board rated the three applicants with Foth-CLE Engineering Group coming in first place by a vote of the members.

On Tuesday the financial portion of the bidding was opened in the Purchasing Department with Foth-CLE coming in as the lowest bid at $57,050 and an optional task to establish a marine reconfiguration zone for the proposed new marina facility at the city pier at $12,500.

The work would include proposing the number of slips at the proposed facility, the size of vessels it could serve and potential locations, said Fiola.

The scope of the transient dockage would be north of the city pier to The Cove Restaurant and from the city pier to Bicentennial Park.

The transient dock on the city waterfront could be similar to the facilities that are located in Bristol, R.I., Fiola said.

“So the city becomes a boater destination area. Those in the boating industry will tell you, especially power boaters, they’re always looking for a place to go. They like to go from point A to point B,” said Fiola. “So the more transient dockage you have the more attractive Fall River will become as a destination point to boaters.”

Email Jo C. Goode at jgoode@heraldnews.com