Southern Pier in Milton is open

By Mark Reynolds
Posted 6/29/22

The southern pier at the Milton Landing Park was closed a number of months ago by Building Inspector Tom Corcoran because some construction items and inspections had not been completed. He said he …

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Southern Pier in Milton is open

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The southern pier at the Milton Landing Park was closed a number of months ago by Building Inspector Tom Corcoran because some construction items and inspections had not been completed. He said he was kept out of the loop on some of these final pier items, which ended up forcing its closure, but recently all outstanding issues have been addressed and the pier was reopened to the public around the Memorial Day weekend.

Corcoran said the Town Board was eager to see the pier reopen.

“They pushed and they got me all the reports and the engineer’s letters and they did the inspection underneath the pier; they satisfied everything I needed,” he said.

After some delays, the Arben Construction Company finally completed the needed work.

“It took them forever and a day and it took a lot of pushing but they did come through. We didn’t have to file any lawsuits or hire anyone else to do it,” Corcoran said.

Supervisor Scott Corcoran said he received an estimate of $900,000 to put in 6 pylons at the pier, which would be on top of the $1.81 million cost for the pier itself. In discussing this with project engineer Brandee Nelson, of Tighe & Bond, they concluded that the pylons are not required in order to have large cruise ships dock in Milton but a fender rubberized system may suffice. Corcoran said he could not see spending an additional $900,000.

Corcoran has been in negotiations with American Cruise Lines, who have expressed an interest in docking at the pier in the future, and they are willing to pay for the up front costs of the fender system, tie-downs for their boats and a water supply at a cost between $10,000 to $15,000. He is in the process of finalizing the contractual terms, along with docking fees, with this cruise line and expects to release the numbers in the near future.

“It’s going to be pretty good for the taxpayers of Marlborough and will not cost us anything upfront to get these boats here. We are going to get a pretty good revenue to help pay off the bond of $1.2 million on the pier,” he said.

Corcoran also thanked Gael Appler Jr. for doing some extra fencing work on the pier to reconfigure the off loading of passengers safely and he will also be putting an ADA rail on a gang plank down to the floating dock.

Corcoran said the town obtained a $313,000 grant for the project, which he expects to receive within the next few months. He said the town also used $300,000 from their recreation fees that are collected from developers, to cover the final portion of the project’s $1.81 million total.

“I fully expect in the fall you’re going to definitely see one and maybe two cruise ships coming to Milton,” he said.

Across from the pier is a section on the park that is under construction. Granite steps were installed at Watson Avenue but a rubberized material similar to what is used on high school tracks will run down to the parking lot near the train station. This material allows water to seep through it. In addition “water drops” were put into the stream that is in this section of the park in order to create a step-like waterfall effect. Landscaping with trees and grass will follow to spruce up the area. The cost for this section of the park is $171,000 and the town is expecting $25,000 from an old grant that will help to offset this amount.