July 24,  2009




The future of the Hatteras Island Fishing Pier in Frisco is unclear this summer as the owner struggles with expensive repairs that must be made to the aging structure.

The pier’s owner, Tod Gaskill, says he is working on trying to get it open and on getting funding for repairs.

Mike Murray, superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, says he wants to see the pier open again and he wants to keep it open to the public.

“We had a conversation with Tod and his wife Angie, trying to work through the problem,” Murray said.  “We’re certainly interested in opening it and keeping it open to the public.”

However, he said, finding funding sources from the Park Service or other public agencies is problematic since the pier is privately owned.

Meanwhile, the pier remains empty and boarded up, prompting questions from islanders and visitors about its future.

Gaskill and his wife, Angie, bought the pier in 2003 after Hurricane Isabel.

The Gaskills own the pier, which was built in 1962, but the National Park Service owns the beach under the pier and the parking lot.

Gaskill says they put $100,000 into the pier to cover the damage from Isabel, and have put another $50,000 into the structure each year since then.

He says his initial work to shore up the pier was complicated by the fact that he received a shipment of bad pilings, which should have lasted at least 20 years and have not lasted five.

He estimates that at least 100 of the 130 pilings shoring up the pier need to be replaced.

“In my own eyes, it will take $150,000 to $200,000 to fix it,” he said this week.

That is for the long-range fix. 

It would have taken $50,000 to $75,000 just to make it safe enough to open this year, he said.

Gaskill, who also owns Top Dollar Construction and Angelo’s restaurant on Hatteras with his wife, has been working in Galveston, Tex., since last fall, repairing damage from Hurricane Ike.

But, he said that’s not the reason he has not addressed the problems with the pier.

He said he did not put the money into the pier this year because of the economy.

“I thought (Hatteras Island) would be a ghost town this year because of the economy and layoffs,” he said.

The pier will not be open again this year.

 Gaskill is looking at making a decision on whether to invest in fixing the pier or selling it before next season.

“I want to see it cleaned up and functioning for the locals and the visitors,” Gaskill said. “I grew up on the island in the seafood business….It’s a landmark here.”

Gaskill added that the pier has not been a big moneymaker.

“I didn’t buy this thing to make money,” he said.

He added he’s made a modest profit, but “it’s not a big prospering business,” and it’s not made enough to cover the money he has had to put into repairing it.

“Piers are a really important means of public access for fishing,” Murray said. 

He added that “There is no easy, obvious source of funding.”

But  he said that the Park Service will continue to work with Gaskill on getting the Frisco pier open again.

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