Huntington Beach : Panel Urges Concrete Pilings as Pier Support

An advisory committee is recommending that the new Huntington Beach Pier be rebuilt with concrete instead of steel pilings, and it is urging the City Council to approve that change at its meeting Monday night.

The Pier Design Committee previously supported rebuilding the 77-year-old landmark with steel legs that would be cheaper and faster to install, despite some protest among community members who found the idea of steel less appealing than the gray concrete.

Residents and city officials who form the committee reversed themselves Thursday night after learning that two piers with similar steel pilings were now showing signs of saltwater corrosion just 5 years after they were built.

City staff members reported that, while not severe, rust already had materialized on the San Clemente and Pismo Beach piers at the spot where vertical steel pilings were welded to horizontal beams beneath the decking.

Since 1983, two winter storms have destroyed costly parts of the Huntington Beach Pier, which was deemed a public hazard and closed by the city last July 13. At the committee’s recommendation, the City Council voted a few months ago to build a pier with steel pilings because it would save an estimated $1.5 million and open 6 months earlier.

But the potential costs to repair the corroded steel combined with the less favorable, two-tone appearance of a steel and concrete mixture led the pier advisory committee members to change their recommendation.

Monday’s council meeting will begin at 7 p.m. at City Hall, 2000 Main St.