Ventura Pier Shut Due to High Surf

Worried that the Ventura Pier could not withstand the 10-foot waves hurled its way Sunday, park officials closed the 123-year-old landmark for the second time since 420 feet of the pier’s seaward end was destroyed during a winter storm in mid-December.

With forecasts of 15-foot swells late in the day, the pier was closed about noon after park officials heard “rumblings” near some missing and loose pilings in the remaining pier’s midsection.

At least one piling in the remaining span washed away and another was loosened during the Dec. 13 storm, whose 18-foot waves destroyed the seaward end of the pier.

This week, high surf loosened at least two more pilings, said Ventura Public Works Director Ron Calkins.

“There was just a little bit of damage,” he said. “But until we can really inspect it, we don’t want to take any chances.”

The pier will remain closed until at least Wednesday morning while park officials examine pilings that may have been weakened during last month’s storm.

After the storm damage, the pier was closed to the public until Dec. 19. It was reopened after city officials instituted a biweekly surf watch designed to trigger the pier’s closure if high waves were reported.

For the past two weeks, a contractor hired by the city has struggled to clear the beach of about 350 tons of wooden debris that has washed ashore. About nine piles of wood planks and pilings dot the beach from the pier to Ventura Harbor.

About 10 p.m. Saturday, an arsonist set fire to a 20-foot pile of debris at the end of Dover Lane, within 100 yards of beachfront homes.

Ventura fire officials extinguished the fire’s 30-foot flames about midnight, but the debris continued to smolder until 9:30 a.m., when bulldozers were brought in to spread the burning embers, said Battalion Chief Mike Lavery.

To prevent other fires near homes, the charred debris and two other woodpiles within a 500-yard radius of the burned pile were moved Sunday to an uninhabited section of beach north of San Pedro Street.

The process of removing the debris has been further hampered by the size of the pieces of pilings, some of which are more than 50 feet long.

The Bailard Landfill in Oxnard, where the wood is being deposited, will only accept pieces less than 10 feet long, said Terry Murphy, special operations supervisor for the Ventura parks division.

So last week, a second contractor was brought in to break down the wood even further, Murphy said.

About 56 tons of debris have been removed so far, and the beach should be cleared by Friday, Murphy said.