SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — The Santa Cruz Wharf, jutting half a mile into the Monterey Bay, provides a cheerful stroll previous memento retailers, fishing boat leases marketed as “Husband Daycare,” and kids guffawing at hordes of fats sea lions barking beneath.
However on the finish of the city-owned wharf, hanging on a flimsy steel fence, are small warning indicators. “KEEP OUT,” reads one. “DANGER,” says one other.
The indicators have been there for about six months — ever since a 180-foot part of the wood pier collapsed into the ocean after being battered by towering waves throughout an atmospheric river storm that wreaked havoc alongside the Central Coast.
Metropolis officers hope the indicators, fencing, orange security obstacles and uncovered wood decking on the finish of the wharf will probably be passed by early subsequent yr. Development is predicted to start this fall on a $1-million partial restore of the construction, which pulls greater than 2 million guests a yr.
A portion of the Santa Cruz Wharf, together with a public restroom constructing, collapsed into the Pacific Ocean in December 2024.
(San Francisco Chronicle / Hearst Newspapers by way of Getty Photographs)
“It’s shaken us as much as see the injury to the top of the wharf,” mentioned Tony Elliot, the town’s director of parks and recreation. “The wharf is 111 years outdated, and we wish to be sure that it’s right here for one more 100 plus years.”
On a sunny afternoon late final month, Nick James, a 26-year-old vacationer from Christchurch, New Zealand, leaned over the railing about 30 ft from the top of the pier, laughing at sea lions that he mentioned had been simply as “noisy and smelly” as those again house. He was shocked to be taught that the top of the wharf had fallen off.
“I simply thought that was the top!” he mentioned of the short-term fence a number of ft away.
His pal Emily Lawson, 26, of Brisbane, Australia, gave the obstacles a discerning look and mentioned: “There’s not likely many indicators. I’m going to steer clear of the top.”
The partial restore, at the very least a few of which will probably be state-funded, primarily will cap and strengthen the damaged finish of the pier. However it stays unclear whether or not the portion that fell into the ocean will probably be rebuilt. That part as soon as held a restaurant, a public restroom constructing, and several other sea lion viewing holes — openings within the decking used to observe the pinnipeds lolling on the crossbeams beneath.
A full restoration would price about $14 million, Elliot mentioned. Metropolis officers have utilized for funding by means of the California Governor’s Workplace of Emergency Companies. However it’s unclear how a lot cash, if any, the state — which is dealing with a $12-billion funds deficit within the yr forward — will contribute.
Elliot mentioned that if funding is permitted, “it results in a number of questions on how we take into consideration rebuilding … within the context of local weather change and sea degree rise and realizing that these storms aren’t going away, that they could develop into extra frequent or stronger over time.”
The uncertainty in Santa Cruz comes as cities up and down the California coast grapple with whether or not to protect their very own beloved however getting old piers, which have been hammered in recent times by the more and more risky surf of a warming and fast-rising sea.
A minimum of 10 of the state’s dozens of coastal public piers had been closed for half or all of 2024 resulting from structural injury sustained in winter storms during the last two years.
The Ventura Pier and Santa Cruz County’s Capitola Wharf had been broken by storms in early 2023 and reopened final yr. Ventura’s restoration price greater than $3 million, and Capitola’s about $10 million.
The tip of the Cayucos Pier in San Luis Obispo County has been closed to the general public because it was broken in a February 2024 storm that took out a number of pilings and left 15 ft of decking and railing hanging over the water with out helps.
The county is taking building bids for the removing of the broken part till June 12, Shaun Cooper, assistant director of the San Luis Obispo County Parks & Recreation Dept., informed The Instances in an electronic mail Wednesday.
Development is predicted to price roughly $250,000 and sure will start round late August, Cooper mentioned. It’s anticipated to take about two months.
In Santa Cruz, a full rebuild hinges upon state funding as a result of “we don’t have $14 million at our disposal to place towards rebuilding the top of the wharf,” Elliot mentioned of the town.
In February, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation of a state of emergency for the Dec. 23 storm, making Santa Cruz eligible for state funding of as much as 75% of restore prices underneath the California Catastrophe Help Act.
The town submitted its preliminary injury assessments to the Workplace of Emergency Companies in March. In an announcement to The Instances, Ed Chapuis, a Cal OES spokesman, mentioned his workplace is reviewing the town’s injury declare to find out eligibility for funding.
Guests watch sea lions lounging on the help beams of the Santa Cruz Wharf, which was broken in winter storms in 2023 and 2024.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Instances)
In April, the Santa Cruz Metropolis Council permitted spending $100,000 to rent Moffat & Nichol, a Lengthy Seaside-based engineering agency, to develop plans for a $1-million partial restore.
Elliot mentioned the preliminary venture will change misplaced pilings and decking to strengthen the top of the construction. Of the roughly 15,200 sq. ft of decking that fell into the ocean, about 1,100 sq. ft will probably be rebuilt, in line with metropolis planning paperwork.
One sea lion viewing gap additionally will probably be reconstructed, Elliot mentioned.
Metropolis officers, he mentioned, hope to place the job out to bid by late summer time and begin building in October or November, with a purpose of reopening the top of the pier by early subsequent yr.
The Santa Cruz Wharf, in-built 1914, was 2,745 ft lengthy earlier than the winter storm. It was supported by greater than 4,400 pilings — 70-foot Douglas fir beams pushed about 20 ft into the ocean flooring.
A winter storm in 2023 knocked out about 60 pilings, Elliot mentioned. Structural instability compelled the closing and demolition of a decades-old restaurant on the finish of the pier referred to as The Dolphin.
The weakened pier was underneath building for the 2023 injury when the December 2024 storm hit.
A deliberate partial restore of the Santa Cruz Wharf will primarily cap the damaged finish.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Instances)
The town, Elliot mentioned, is compelled to do repairs within the fall and winter months, when storms are stronger and seas are choppier, partly as a result of the California Coastal Fee won’t enable work that disturbs the nesting season of coastal birds, together with widespread seagulls, that make their nests within the wharf’s beams.
In December, two males — a metropolis worker and a contracted engineer — who had been inspecting the pier had been standing on the top of it when it collapsed. They sustained minor accidents. The town worker, Elliot mentioned, was rescued by his son, who works for the town’s marine security division.
About 300 pilings had been destroyed, with some barnacle-covered beams turning up within the Monterey Harbor, 25 miles south.
Two massive items of building tools — a compact loader referred to as a skid steer and a 20-ton crane used for driving piles into the seafloor — tumbled into the water. The skid steer was eliminated, however the crane has been sitting on the ocean flooring beneath about 30 ft of water.
The town introduced Friday that the crane and different wood particles will probably be eliminated this weekend as a part of a joint effort that features the U.S. Coast Guard and Alameda-based Energy Engineering Development Firm.
Elliot mentioned the crane will probably be eliminated by a good bigger crane perched atop a barge.
“The excellent news with each the skid steer and the crane: Neither had been leaking or have leaked any form of fuels or oils or something like that,” Elliot mentioned. “We wish to get the crane out as quickly as we will. It’s all climate dependent.”
Elliot mentioned structural engineers have assessed the remainder of the pier and decided it to be secure.
The wharf, he mentioned, “is a large financial driver for the neighborhood.” It holds about 20 small companies that make use of about 400 folks, he mentioned. It is also a spot the place folks can fish with no allow — and a few folks use it for subsistence fishing to feed their households, he mentioned.
On a latest Thursday afternoon, Leo DeRuntz, a retired plumber from close by Stay Oak, stood near the broken edge, smiling to himself as he watched sea lions and sail boats. Whereas ready for his automobile to be launched from the restore store, the 64-year-old had ridden his bicycle to the wharf.
He has so many fond reminiscences of the pier. Of visiting as a baby. Of bringing his three now-grown daughters once they had been kids, laughing as they peeked by means of the ocean lion viewing holes and barked just like the blubbery creatures.
DeRuntz mentioned he was “devastated, in a way,” to see his beloved pier ripped aside and hopes will probably be totally rebuilt. However he additionally was awestruck by the ocean’s energy throughout that storm.
“The energy of it — you must respect it,” he mentioned.
Nodding towards the uncovered, broken wood decking, DeRuntz turned philosophical.
“Right here’s an instance of what’s not promised,” he mentioned. “The whole lot that you just suppose is secure in life might simply crumble upon you. So that you’d higher get out and simply get pleasure from life.”
Instances workers author Noah Haggerty contributed to this report.
