ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH, Fla. – The St. Johns County Ocean and Fishing Pier in St. Augustine Beach has reopened for the first time in months.
The entire pier was closed in August 2024 after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed a shoreline restoration project that exposed the pillars closest to the ocean, which showed damage that experts wanted to assess.
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St. Johns County commissioners voted unanimously to approve a request for up to $3 million to address those safety concerns.
However, the pier’s reopening does come with a caveat: The final 100 feet remain closed and fenced off, meaning that the pier’s visitors won’t be able to walk all the way to the end of the structure.
Those last 100 feet are expected to be closed for the foreseeable future as restoration work continues.
Still, the county is back to selling passes for those who wish to access the pier and, for the first time in months, people can head over there if they would like to fish, something St. Augustine Beach Mayor Dylan Rumrell is excited about.
“We live in the beautiful state of Florida the beautiful city of Saint Augustine Beach and having people come back to the pier and being able to fish is just more tourism, which is what we need right now,” he said.
Additionally, the county says all annual fishing and sightseeing passes sold before the pier’s closure will be extended seven months past their original expiration dates.