VENTURA : Pier Architects to Show Blueprints

Architects of the $3.5-million Ventura Pier restoration are scheduled to show design drawings of the project to the public today during the Ventura Parks and Recreation Commission’s regular meeting at 7:30 p.m. at San Buenaventura City Hall.

The architects plan to display blueprints for refurbishing the bait shop, building a new snack bar and restrooms and upgrading fixtures on the pier, said chief architect Eric Lassen.

Lassen said he and fellow architect Michael Schneider designed the buildings and fixtures to meet Ventura residents’ requests that the 119-year-old pier’s new appearance match the city’s architecture.

“They wanted it to be unique, and not like other piers, not like Stearns Wharf or the Santa Monica Pier,” Lassen said. “They wanted it to be a real fishing pier.”

The buildings will have peaked roofs, exposed rafters and wooden siding, making them slightly resemble the Pierpont Inn and the California bungalow style of house that appears throughout Ventura, Lassen said.

“I would say it’s a woodsy, Craftsman style,” Lassen said Monday. “You’ll see a lot of projecting beams, notched wood and bolted things.”

The snack bar would be constructed on the site of the existing Pier Fish House, which is slated to be rebuilt elsewhere on the pier by the Janss Corp. of Santa Monica, Lassen said.

Under the new plans, workers will replace the lights and railings, and install benches, drinking fountains and steel sinks for cleaning fish, Lassen said.

Work is scheduled to begin this fall on the 1,958-foot-long pier, the longest wooden pier in California, said Don Marquardt, Ventura’s landscape architect.

Last week, the Ventura City Council gave the Janss Corp. exclusive rights to build and operate a new restaurant and shops at the Ventura Pier, plans for which must be submitted by July 1.

The company would build approximately 15,000 square feet of facilities at the beginning of the pier and the land around it, and would operate the businesses while paying rent to the city.