Santa Cruz Wharf reopens for business as questions about its future remain
Two days before Christmas, the Santa Cruz area was hit by the biggest ocean swell in 30 years. The huge waves tore apart a portion of the city's municipal wharf and it has been closed to the public ever since. But on Saturday morning, it was reopened for business, even as questions persist about the pier's future.
"Good morning. How's everybody," said Mayor Fred Keeley to a small crowd of city officials and residents assembled on the wharf. "Pretty good day, huh."
It was a good day compared to Dec. 23rd, when a previously closed 150-foot section at the end of the wharf broke apart sending two buildings, broken pilings and other debris into the ocean. But on Saturday, Keeley announced that, despite the challenges, there was good news.
"We're trying to emphasize the concept that when you build a half-mile-long commercial road over the open ocean, you're going to have to be pretty careful about how you maintain that," he said. "What we know is that this wharf is sound and safe for you to be here, for our merchants to open back up and for people to come visit again."
The city is declaring it safe after an engineering firm, Moffat and Nichol, completed a visual assessment of the remaining structure. They said it is in OK shape, thanks to a dedicated program of maintenance by a permanent crew of workers.
"It is aging. It's 110 years old and there's definitely some wear and tear," said engineer Brad Porter, who conducted the examination. "But the wharf staff is constantly, every day, replacing members, replacing piles, replacing beams, replacing hardware. I mean, that's what was going on when the wharf collapsed. Has it lost significant strength? I don't think so. I think it's largely in intact condition."
The city says the end of the pier collapsed due to damage from two previous storms in late 2023 and early last year.
But Jon Bombaci disagrees. He served as wharf supervisor for 11 years before retiring in 2021 and said that back then he was warning the city that the structure was starting to come apart.
"There was nothing that happened recently that really caused that to go like that. It was lost 'sheer,' and they will start to lose other sections of the wharf," he said. "We knew this was happening. We had made some repairs to, like, band-aid it here and there. The next thing that's going to start going is the east parking lot."
Filip Bartek was in the area and watched when the end of the wharf collapsed, sending huge splintered lumber to beaches as far away as Watsonville.
"I saw the piles on the beach over there and I work in construction, so I kind of know, you know?" he said. "I saw the piles and the piles were kind of rotted inside. And they were not looking like in perfect condition. And we've got many piles here under the pier and this is a hundred years old. So, I think one week for checking the pier is not a long time. We need to check it out probably more."
But for the people who make their livings on the wharf, time was of the essence, having already lost two important holidays. Joel Marini is a third-generation candymaker on the wharf who relies heavily on the tourist trade. He's staying cautiously optimistic that the city's assessment is correct.
"We weren't very happy when they were closed because nobody was saying how long was going to be. But it's been two weeks, I guess," he said. "Supposedly there's a big surf, high tides, the next week or so. But I think they can do their job. I'm not pressing the city, not holding it against the city if something else falls apart. But I think they've got it."
In addition to the visual inspection of the structure, a sonar search was also conducted in the wharf area.
It concluded that three large pieces of heavy equipment that fell into the water are still sitting on the ocean floor but are deemed to be a safe distance from the pier in case of another storm.
The mayor said because of heavier storms from climate change, it might not make sense to replace the lost portion of the wharf.
The structural engineer said despite his positive assessment, he thinks it's probably a good idea in the future for them to close the pier during times of particularly high surf.
