HUNTINGTON BEACH : Chief Pier Designer Will Stay on the Job

Ending some confusion and controversy surrounding the architect hired to design its new municipal pier, City Council members agreed Monday to retain Ron Yeo as chief pier designer.

The Corona del Mar-based designer, whom the city originally hired in February, will complete his work on the $10.5-million pier-rebuilding project and proposed adjoining pier gateway plaza.

The council also decided that Yeo will preside over a January planning session for the proposed plaza, which would cost an additional $6 million and include shops and restaurants at the foot of the pier. Wes Bannister was the only council member Monday who opposed the idea of Yeo overseeing the planning session.

Yeo had been notified Sept. 19 in a letter from City Engineer Les Evans that he was being removed from the project, but officials said Monday that he will be retained with more clearly defined responsibilities.

Councilman Peter M. Green, a member of the pier design committee, said Yeo was never fired.

“He fulfilled his obligation to the contract to design our new pier,” he said. “And I thought he did a tremendous job.”

Yeo was hired for about $84,000 to design the lifeguard tower, bait shop, snack bars, cafe and other buildings on the pier, as well as the pier itself. Additionally, he began some preliminary designs on the pier plaza, which some officials charged he carried out before receiving city approval. As a result, Councilman John Erskine, who raised the issue about Yeo at Monday’s meeting, included in the motion to retain Yeo a stipulation that city officials clearly define the project’s scope.

The pier project, which Green said is proceeding on schedule, is planned to be completed by Labor Day of 1991. If a pier plaza is added, it almost certainly would not be completed until long after the new pier’s opening, Green said.