Judge Orders Pier Rebuilt : Redondo Beach Ruled Legally Obligated to Restore Battered Landmark

Nearly two years after two storms and a fire reduced the Redondo Beach pier to a battered stump, a judge ruled Wednesday that the city must rebuild the once-venerable landmark.

Torrance Superior Court Judge Abraham Gorenfeld, to the delight of the shell-jewelry vendors and seaside restaurateurs whose businesses once lined the pier, held that reconstruction--which could cost up to $4.6 million--is required by the pier lease.

“I’m elated!” crowed Jay Robinson, a general partner in Pier Properties Ltd., the leaseholder representing the 15 businesses destroyed in the third of three 1988 pier disasters, a spectacular fire sparked by faulty electrical wiring.

But among the pier’s neighbors, the reaction was less jubilant.

“I have nothing against piers, but our pier was a dump,” said Greg Diete, who chairs the city’s General Plan Advisory Committee and who lives in a condominium near the pier.

“It brought crime into the community, and gangs, and it cost the taxpayers more money than it brought in because of the need for law enforcement and city staff,” he said.

Once a popular promenade of tourists and fishermen and souvenir shops and restaurants with ocean views, the horseshoe-shaped landmark was chopped in half by the wave of disasters in 1988. First a January storm with crashing, 20-foot waves caused $17 million in damage. Then in April, a second storm swept away the popular 155-foot fishing promenade. Fifty-two mile an hour winds and 12-foot breakers pounded telephone pole-sized pilings against sections of the pier. Decking collapsed. A coffee shop kitchen dropped into the ocean. Another $1.25 million in losses were toted up.

The following month, a spark from electrical wiring under a pier restaurant delivered the coup de grace. About a third of the pier businesses and half of the remaining decking were destroyed as the midsection of the horseshoe went up in flames.

The loss was a civic blow to Redondo Beach. In the nearly 100 years since the city was founded as a logging port, it had never been without a pier. Three times in city history, storms had claimed the city’s harbor centerpiece. But the pier had always risen again, and city officials vowed this loss would also end in resurrection.

Within six months, the City Council had voted to restore the pier. But the decision soon faltered in the face of vocal opposition from people like Diete--and the election of a new council.

Amid mixed messages from the voters, many of whom loved the old pier and disagreed with Diete, a council majority promised to put the question of reconstruction to a voter referendum.

But as a cautionary measure, the city asked the courts to determine its legal obligations to businesses under the pier lease. City Atty. Gordon Phillips argued in court that the document did not address the city’s duties if irreparable damage occurred, but required the city only to maintain and repair the existing structure.

Lawyers for the leaseholders, meanwhile, said the lease clearly indicates the city’s responsibility for replacing piling and decking.

The mayor and council plan to meet early next month to discuss whether to appeal Wednesday’s ruling. Initial reaction was mixed.

Councilman Ron Cawdrey, who has backed the reconstruction from the start, shouted, “All right! I love it!” when told of the ruling. But Councilwoman Barbara Doerr noted that “five million dollars is a pretty expensive tag,” and said she would push for an appeal.

“I’m disappointed that we don’t have the option whether or not to rebuild,” said Mayor Brad Parton. But he noted that the city may be able to make the new pier more palatable to opponents by imposing strict conditions on such things as business hours and building design.

The money won’t be difficult for the city to come up with, said City Manager Tim Casey, since Redondo Beach is already eligible for between $2 million and $3 million in state disaster assistance, and property taxes from a nearby redevelopment project could alone support a bond issue of nearly $5 million.