As he considered design ideas for the new Hall Street Pier, Matthew Stanley looked to the city's past for inspiration.
The pier has existed in various forms since 1892 when it was built as a stop for paddle wheelers, and prior to that the location was a gathering place for Sinixt and Ktunaxa peoples. Stanley, owner of Nelson-based Stanley Office of Architecture, decided he wanted a pier that encouraged residents to return to the site.
“Our design is feeding into that legacy and really trying to, in the most salient way possible, capture that this is the connection between the city and the water. It is a place for the community to gather.”
Stanley was among the speakers Saturday at the City of Nelson's ceremonial opening of the new pier, which was four years in the making. The previous pier had been built in 1986 but had long been in need of replacement when in 2020 the city announced it would pursue a new structure as a COVID-19 economic recovery project.
The new, wider pier adds a swimming area and floating dock, benches and a display for the historic Ladybird speedboat. It also includes a new permanent dock to be used by the Kootenay Rhythm Dragons' boat and seaplanes, which was privately funded by Jennifer Lount-Taylor.
But the visual highlight of the pier that differs from past structures is the canopy.
Stanley, whose firm collaborated with the architecture company MBAC and won a 2023 Canadian Architect Award of Excellence for the final design, said he wanted the new pier to have a vertical element that made it stand out from a distance.
“The idea around the canopy was we need to make a landmark, something that people can see from lots of different parts of the city and be drawn to it.”
Mayor Janice Morrison said she envisions the pier becoming as iconic as the Nelson Bridge to the city's image. Morrison added her hope is the project provides residents with a new way of connecting with Kootenay Lake.
“Here you're on the water, and being on the water gives life a whole different feeling and exposure than always being on the land. And that, to me, is something that I'm really moved by. It's from my history of being a physical therapist for so many years, is trying to figure those accessible points in a town that's built on a mountainside.”
The opening of the pier marks the end of a tumultuous building process that was marred by unexpected expenses, debate over various design features and public division over whether the city should be spending money on a new pier in the first place.
The City of Nelson's original estimate for the pier's cost in 2020 was $1.2 million, the majority of which would have been funded by a $1-million grant from the province's Community Economic Recovery Infrastructure Program meant to encourage local projects that would create jobs during the pandemic. Columbia Basin Trust also funded $500,000 for the project.
But as the pandemic dragged on, costs increased. In 2021 the city said the pier would require $2.5 million and be constructed in 2022. Demolition of the old pier did begin in 2022, but by then the cost had again increased to $3.5 million and construction was delayed by supply chain issues, the departure of its original consultants and inflation.
The pier was finally completed this year at what the city said in March was a cost of $4.7 million, of which $3.2 million came from financial reserves that the city keeps for one-time capital expenses. That includes the Ladybird display, which was empty Saturday after the city said it needed to repair mechanical issues with the structure. The boat is expected to return to the site in the coming weeks.
Morrison, who was a city councillor under then Mayor John Dooley when the project was announced, defended pier's cost and extended construction.
“COVID and the inflation that went on and the increase of materials, the inability to acquire or access the materials to do this building, were significant cost drivers. I don't think it was poor planning, but it was a world, global event that really caused the prices to get driven so high.”
Those hurdles, Morrison hopes, become forgotten by residents when they arrive at the pier.
“I want people to come with an open mind and come down and see what a great iconic amenity that it is and that it will continue to be.”
