VENICE : New Dispute Over Boardwalk Surfaces

Two Venice groups are promoting a plan to resurface the community’s boardwalk in brick, but critics say it would be too costly and anathema to the boardwalk’s funky ambience.

At stake is about $10 million in funding earmarked for Venice Beach from Proposition A, a $500-million ballot measure for improving parks and recreation facilities. The closed Venice Pier will be restored with $3 million of the allotted funds, leaving $7 million for refurbishment of the boardwalk.

The current proposal, includes resurfacing of the boardwalk, new street lighting and upgraded restrooms, among other improvements.

The Venice Boardwalk Assn., an organization of business owners, and the Venice Action Committee, a group of neighborhood residents and merchants, would like to see the boardwalk resurfaced in sand-set brick, arguing that it will stay clean longer and can be reassembled following earthquakes.

Opponents of the brick idea favor asphalt.

“With the limited amount of money available, it would be irresponsible to use designer brick,” said Richard Abcarian, president of Friends of the Venice Boardwalk Assn., a group of Venice property owners that formed last summer in opposition to the Venice Boardwalk Assn.

“Asphalt is serviceable, safe, easy to maintain and at least four times cheaper . . . (and) I think that designer brick is utterly out of character for the boardwalk.”

Other resurfacing materials being considered by the city are asphalt and concrete with tile inlays.

Mark Ryavec, executive director of the Venice Boardwalk Assn., said brick resurfacing of the boardwalk from the Santa Monica border to Venice Boulevard North--about 100,000 square feet--would cost roughly $650,000, excluding subsurface preparations that might require removing the existing foundation and pouring a new one.

An earlier estimate for the cost of the brickwork, which included subsurface preparations, came in at $1.6 million. That estimate would have extended the brick overlay from Santa Monica to Washington Boulevard, Ryavec said.

The city Board of Recreation and Parks Commissioners will hold public workshops on the refurbishment plan in the spring.