Raze Pier, Build New One, Huntington Beach Is Advised

The Huntington Beach Pier, whose end was destroyed six months ago by heavy surf, should be torn down and rebuilt because years of exposure to saltwater and sea air have eroded its skeleton of steel reinforcements and left it structurally unsound.

That is the recommendation of an Irvine engineering firm hired by the city to study the condition of the 74-year-old pier after high seas took about 250 feet off its end in January, City Administrator Paul Cook said Tuesday.

Cook would not release the preliminary study by Fluor Daniels Inc., saying that City Council members had not seen it and that he has some unanswered questions, particularly about the cost to rebuild the pier from scratch, which he said the engineers may have underestimated.

Nevertheless, Cook said, he agrees with the conclusion that the old pier should be leveled, and added that he will urge the City Council to make that decision.

“Our pier is suffering a bad case of old age, so this would be a good time, if we could find the money, to redo it,” he said.

”. . . It outlived its usefulness and there’s no way to rehabilitate it. So it appears that our staff recommendation in a few weeks will be to hire a consultant to design a new pier, and begin looking for funds to construct a new pier as soon as possible.”

The engineers, according to Cook, have said that Huntington Beach’s landmark pier might survive heavy surf such as the waves that toppled The End Cafe and the pier’s tip Jan. 17 and 18, causing an estimated $5 million in damage. But they said it would not survive a large earthquake, Cook said.

Although it does not pose a safety hazard for those who walk on or beneath it, Cook said weight limits will probably have to be set for the pier, which is visited by an estimated 1.5 million people each year.

About 5 tons--roughly the weight of a large truck--is the current capacity of the pier, Cook said. Even fire trucks are now banned on the pier.

Grandstand seating for the annual O.P. Pro Surf Championship later this summer--which has generally been atop the pier--will have to be moved down to the sand, he added.

“We will probably be recommending those kinds of measures until we can put the project together to rebuild the pier, assuming that’s what the council will do.”

Since it was built in 1914, the pier has been pummeled by storms and once destroyed by a hurricane, in 1939. Its end was destroyed in 1983, then repaired and reopened in 1985.

When it was rebuilt after the 1939 storm, the seaward end of it was built at a lower elevation than the base--city officials say nobody seems to know why--and built on wooden pilings. Ironically, Cook said, the 1,200-foot concrete stretch of the pier beginning at the sand is structurally the weakest part.

It is the low elevation, however, that has made the pier so vulnerable to wave damage.

Now that more than half of the pier’s so-called strong structure is lost to the January storms, Cook said, there is little reason to keep building two-story restaurants on the end of a “weak” and “unsound” structure.

Over the years, age and exposure to the elements have eroded portions of the pier’s concrete underbelly. That has left the steel reinforcement exposed to the salt air and seawater, Cook said.

“The reinforcements have just rusted away--disintegrated,” he said. “They just rust into nothing. So the reinforcement steel no longer does its own job, and the pier is held up by its own concrete weight. A strong earthquake would just push it over.”

Cook stressed, however, that the remaining concrete is “enough to hold up the pier and the deck of the pier.”

It is unclear, city officials said Monday, what it would cost to rebuild the pier.

Councilman Jack Kelly said the possibility of using tax increment funds from the city’s downtown redevelopment projects has been considered.

“I haven’t seen it myself,” Kelly said of the report. “We’re trying to review it to see where we have to go for monies and (we will wait) for some formal recommendation on it. I’d like to see if there’s any chance we can rebuild the whole thing. . . . But I’m not sure if we have the tax increment money.”

Cook said estimates to rebuild just the 250-foot wooden section lost in January have hovered around $1 million, with an additional $600,000 to rebuild The End Cafe, which toppled into the sea. Restoring or shoring up the pier, as was done after fierce 1983 winter storms destroyed a 10-foot length of the pier’s end and left the old restaurant heavily damaged, could cost as much as rebuilding it and “wouldn’t make any sense to do,” Cook said.

“You’d be attaching a new structure to an end that has proven to be bad news.”

The Fluor report reiterates a 1979 study commissioned by the city, which at the time had considered rebuilding the pier from scratch. The city abandoned that idea after federal grants and loans to fund a new pier vanished with Reagan Administration cutbacks, Cook said.

But the 1979 report offered the alternative of repairs. The new study “puts things in a little stronger terms,” Cook said. There is only one option now, he said, adding, “They (Fluor) don’t see any way to rehabilitate the pier.”

After the 1983 storm, the city spent about $1.2 million to repair the pier--most of which was spent on bolstering the pilings to support a new restaurant.

HUNTINGTON BEACH PIER CHRONOLOGY 1904--A 1,300-foot-long wooden pier is built.

1913--Construction begins on new concrete pier, 1,330 feet long. Cost, $72,000.

1914--Pier is completed.

1930--Pier is lengthened by 500 feet with cafe at the end.

1939--Hurricane destroys end of pier and cafe.

1940--Rebuilt pier and restaurant open.

1941--Navy takes over pier for submarine watch during World War II.

November, 1979--A report to city details structural deterioration of pier; recommends refurbishing pier (at cost of $5.4 million) or complete rebuilding (at cost of $7 million).

December, 1979--City Council authorizes a pier rebuilding project but asks staff to seek state and federal funding sources. Plan does not progress.

March, 1983--Violent storm rips out 30 pilings and 500 square feet of deck and substructure. The End Cafe and a bait shack teetering at end of pier are demolished to prevent further damage. Estimated repair costs: $500,000.

September, 1983--Rebuilding of pier begins. Cost estimates rise to $781,000: about $500,000 from insurance, $200,000 from the county, $75,000 from city’s contingency fund and $1,500 from local fund-raisers.

February, 1984--California Coastal Commission approves two-story design concept for new restaurant at end of pier. Final design awaits City Council approval; decision delayed because many feel first architectural draft is not in keeping with pier’s character.

March, 1984--California Coastal Conservancy loans $150,000 to city to replace and improve pier cafe.

March, 1985--California Coastal Conservancy loans city $275,000 for completion of cafe construction. Total pier rebuilding estimates rise to $1.1 million, including $360,000 for cafe.

September, 1985--Pier reopens with city-sponsored festival. Final costs include $900,000 to repair pier, $400,000 to repair and expand the End Cafe.

February, 1986--Pier closed for two days during heavy surf that damages structural and fender pilings. City Council votes $25,000 for repairs.

December, 1987--State Parks and Recreation Commission grants city request to build parking garage beside pier, but rejects bid for 10,000-square-foot restaurant atop garage.

January 17-18, 1988--About 250 feet of the pier’s end is ripped off during two days of stormy seas. The End Cafe is destroyed again. Damage is estimated at almost $5 million.

February, 1988--Fund-raising begins for pier restoration. County supervisors pledge to match up to $250,000 in private donations with county park and recreation funds.

March, 1988--Sister city Anjo, Japan, pledges $3,000 for pier restoration.

Source: Los Angeles Times library; Huntington Beach Historical Society.