Borough hoping to build ferry terminal By maura dowgin Staff Writer KEYPORT — Plans for waterfront improvements are under way. Borough Engineer Gerald Freda is working on preliminary design plans for a new pier/ferry terminal, two new boat slips and the relocation of American Legion Drive. The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is reviewing plans to replace the bulkhead, according to Freda. "Our plans have been presented to the DEP," said Mayor John Merla. The cost for the bulkhead alone is estimated to be about $2 million, Freda said. "The bulkhead and boardwalk and road realignment can exceed $2 million very easily," Merla said. The work is being done with a DEP grant. The DEP is picking up 75 percent of the cost of the work, the county is paying 10 percent and the borough will pay the final 15 percent, according to Merla. "We’re in a hurry to try to get everything [for the other three projects] together to submit to the DEP," Freda said. "The pier that’s there now is going to stay. [The borough is] currently doing some repairs to that pier." The new pier/ferry terminal will be built at the foot of Broad Street, where the old steamboat pier was located, Freda said. If a ferry company starts running service from Keyport to New York before the ferry terminal is complete, it will run from the already existing pier. Once the new ferry terminal is completed, the ferry will move into the new terminal, Freda said. The borough has not had ferry service since the end of last year, when New York Fast Ferry pulled out of the borough. The borough has met with representatives from New York Water Taxi, N.Y. Waterway and SeaStreak to see if any company would be interested in providing commuter ferry service from the borough to New York. Merla said he has a meeting scheduled with New York Water Taxi today and that negotiations between the borough and the company have been going well. The two new boat slips, which would be used for charter boats, could be constructed at the same time as the bulkhead is being replaced if the DEP approves both projects as a money-saving device, according to Freda. The relocation of American Legion Drive is still in the design phase, Freda said. Different designs for the new road, which will be moved inland, are being drawn up. After all the designs are finished, the borough will then choose the design that works best for the borough. After the DEP approves the plans for the waterfront improvement, the borough can go out to bid on the projects, Merla said. "We’re very excited that we’re this far [along in the process]. We’re moving quickly," the mayor added. "If [the borough] can get that waterfront going, it can really get the town to go forward," Freda said.