Manhattan Beach OKs a $2-Million Face-Lift for Its Crumbling Pier

The dilapidated, 68-year-old Manhattan Beach Pier is about to get a $2-million face lift, one that city officials say will preserve its old-fashioned charm for another 50 years.

To avoid spending the $4.5 million needed to rebuild the pier and retain its present look, the City Council this week endorsed a plan to strip and replace the concrete deck and repair most of the girders and piles.

Work is expected to start within a year and take about 7 months.

sh City to Resume Maintenance

City to Resume Maintenance

The council also agreed to resume maintenance and operation of the pier so it can qualify for $1.7 million in federal and state funds set aside for the renovation. City officials said the state, which owns the pier and has been operating it, cannot grant the funds to itself, so the city had to take over. Local fund-raising efforts have collected another $25,000.

The pier has been plagued by cracked and falling concrete, and exposed girders are rusting. Even some lampposts are held together with wire. Last year, Los Angeles County awarded a record $3.26-million settlement to a Redondo Beach man paralyzed from the rib cage down when a 150-pound chunk of concrete fell on him as he was exercising beneath the pier. The mishap occurred in 1984, when the county was responsible for pier maintenance.

Chain-link fencing covers most of the underside of the pier to catch falling debris.

“It’s hard to have local pride in something that’s almost a death trap,” said Mae McConnell, a Manhattan Beach resident who was walking on the beach Wednesday. “It’s good that they’re finally doing something.”

Michael Flentie, 29, of Playa Del Rey, has been surfing off Manhattan Beach for 19 years and often “shoots through” the pilings beneath the pier. “It’s bad enough trying to dodge the pilings. You have to watch out for falling concrete, too,” he said.

The renovation plan was recommended by the engineering firm of Moffatt & Nichol in a report commissioned by the State Coastal Conservancy. Project Manager Jim Crumpley said the repairs involve protecting steel girders with an epoxy coating and replacing chipped concrete with a polymer-modified concrete that makes it tougher against water.

The concrete deck will be replaced with one twice as thick, and the roundhouse at the end of the pier that houses a marine studies lab will be demolished and rebuilt.

The city will spend $100,000 a year operating and maintaining the pier, its restrooms and four nearby parking lots. City officials said the money would come mostly from parking meter revenues.