Santa Cruz wharf collapse: Plans take shape for rebuilding as summer beach season begins

As they have for more than years thousands of visitors will head out to Santa Cruz s beaches and famous wharf over Memorial Day Weekend heralding the beginning of summer The sea lions the clam chowder the sunny weather and surfers all will be there But this year visitors also will notice something different The Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf a historic wooden structure built in that juts half a mile into Monterey Bay the longest masses pier on California s coast is damaged On Dec a -foot section at its southernmost end collapsed dramatically into the ocean during heavy winter storms making international news City functionaries reopened the wharf days later after engineering studies presented the rest of the structure was still safe Now even as several key questions remain unanswered the landmark s future is beginning to take shape Rebuilding all of the destroyed section an area the size of three NBA basketball courts perched over the open ocean will cost roughly million A restaurant a restroom building and popular sea lion viewing areas are gone Specific wonder whether the wrecked feet should be rebuilt at all as piers up and down the California coast from Pacifica to San Diego have faced increasing damage in new years due to winter storms made stronger by environment change and sea level rise The current preference of the city council is to rebuild it mentioned Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley But we need to get a complete picture from constituents works parks structural engineers and other experts to see if that s realizable to do in a way that is going to last The wharf receives more than million visitors a year Parts of it have been included in Hollywood films like the Clint Eastwood film Sudden Impact and the horror movie Lost Boys Last month the Santa Cruz City Council voted to spend to hire Moffat and Nichol a Long Beach-based engineering firm to draw up plans for a million partial repair The design chosen from five alternatives would replace lost wooden pilings and about feet of the roughly square feet of decking that fell into the ocean during the storms The plan also would rebuild one sea-lion viewing hole and replace particular lost parking spaces The goal is to put the job out to bid in July and start construction in October finishing by early explained Tony Elliot Santa Cruz s city parks director who is overseeing the project We ll be capping the broken end of the wharf adding new pilings and decking he stated That will strengthen it But the big question is who will pay for the rest of the work After the collapse Gov Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation making Santa Cruz eligible for state funding under the California Accident Assistance Act which reimburses local governments up to of their losses from floods wildfires earthquakes and other disasters Santa Cruz applied for funding in March but hasn t heard back amounts yet from the California Office of Crisis Services Elliot and Keeley both noted that once they receive a decision from the state on how much catastrophe funding the city will receive they expect the council to make a final decision by the end of this year Visitors stand on the wharf at the Santa Cruz Wharf in Santa Cruz Calif on Wednesday May Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group On the wharf this week countless of the visitors to the colorful shops and restaurants announced they hope it will be comprehensively rebuilt They should build it back declared Gerald Martinez visiting with his wife Joanne Martinez from Sacramento People from all over the world come to see the wharf and the boardwalk It s historic Maybe they could do a glass floor on part of it noted Christine Daugherty who drove down from Marysville with her husband John Daugherty for a minimal days at the ocean So you could see the sea lions It would be a different view Locals tended to agree Vince Tuzzi a white-bearded longtime Santa Cruz resident wearing a Hawaiian shirt and riding a Schwinn cruiser bicycle stated he comes to the wharf every day He announced he would like to see it restored to its former glory When the collapse happened two days before Christmas Tuzzi was dressed as Santa Claus working at a business in Ben Lomond He recalled the TV images of the broken decking floating in the ocean with three city workers who were rescued heavy equipment and the entire restroom building bobbing on top of the precarious raft It was sure something to see that bathroom floating in the ocean Tuzzi noted expressing satisfaction When it hit the beach somebody put a sign on it that announced For rent a month ' Part of the reason that particular section collapsed Elliot the city parks director reported is that it was under repairs after a big storm had damaged pilings and decking the prior year in December The city was forced to do repair work during the rough winter weather because the California Coastal Commission stated workers couldn t disturb western gulls or seagulls and another commonly identified bird pigeon guillemots both of which make their nests in the wharf s wooden beams during nesting season It was already damaged It was in a weakened state Elliot stated With fewer pilings the wharf lost its shear strength in that area It didn t have the ability that the rest of the wharf has to withstand the kind of really big swells that we saw on Dec The city has already removed one of the pieces of lost equipment a skid steer from the ocean floor But a -ton crane is still sitting under about feet of water roughly feet southeast of the wharf There are plans to bring in a barge and a much larger crane this summer to fish it out Elliot reported The wharf has more than wooden pilings made of Douglas Fir They are pounded roughly feet into the ocean bottom and city crews replace several dozen each year But piers come and go There have been five others back to the mid- s in that area noted Gary Griggs a distinguished professor of Earth Sciences at UC Santa Cruz Last fall the city of Capitola reopened the Capitola Wharf after million in repairs following damage from a January bomb cyclone storm First built in that structure was also damaged in and storms It s a tough milieu Griggs explained There s nothing we can do in the long run to hold back the Pacific Ocean The ocean is consistently going to win Visitors walk along the Santa Cruz Wharf in Santa Cruz Calif on Wednesday May Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group Visitors walk along the Santa Cruz Wharf in Santa Cruz Calif on Wednesday May Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group Visitors enter Stagnaro Bros Seafood restaurant on the Santa Cruz Wharf in Santa Cruz Calif on Wednesday May Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group Visitors walk toward the end of the Santa Cruz Wharf in Santa Cruz Calif on Wednesday May Nhat V Meyer Bay Area News Group