Reprieve for Damaged Pier

The deteriorating Venice Pier, scheduled for demolition, will get a reprieve while the city attempts to determine whether there is community support for repairing or replacing the structure, according to Joel Breitbart of the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department.

The state Coastal Conservancy, which funds restoration of coastal recreation facilities and wildlife habitats, has offered to pay half of the $100,000 cost for a study on saving the pier, which has been closed for nearly two years.

Although the parks department has received $500,000 in its new budget to demolish the pier, Breitbart said the city will not raze the structure until the conservancy has conducted a public meeting later this year on the pier’s future.

The 1,200-foot-long concrete pier was closed in November, 1986, after pieces of concrete fell off. County officials who were then managing the pier discovered that the steel frame of the pier deck was corroding. They determined that the pier could not be saved and that the cost of replacing it, $4.5 million, was too expensive.

If the public meeting determines that there is support for the pier’s repair or replacement, Breitbart said, it would be worthwhile for the city to match the conservancy’s $50,000 offer to pay for the study.