Pier Unlikely to Regain Old Length

Barring the unlikely scenario of a $3-million revenue windfall, Ventura’s storm-shortened pier is about as long as it will ever get, city leaders concede.

More than two years after thundering 20-foot storm waves lopped 425 feet off the end of the pier, the city has just $1.5 million of the $4 million needed to restore the structure to its historic 1,958-foot length.

And, city officials say, there’s little hope of covering the shortfall.

“The chances of getting enough funding to build the full length of the pier remain very slim,” Public Works Director Ron Calkins told the City Council on Monday.

Still, the city will try. By a 6-1 vote, the council decided to delay pier reconstruction plans until next spring.

Meanwhile, the council will look to public grants and fund-raising help from the citizens group Pier Into the Future to raise additional money while waiting out a highly competitive marine construction bidding climate left in the wake of El Nino.

Only Councilman Jack Tingstrom dissented, saying he was tired of delays in pier reconstruction plans. He said the wait has been unfair to citizens who bought commemorative planks on the pier that were washed away during the December 1995 storm.

“I see delays all through this, but you people don’t see it,” Tingstrom told his colleagues.

Mayor Jim Friedman contends that there have been no delays. Since the pier was damaged in the 1995 storm and again in February, the city has been busy with temporary repairs to keep the pier open while deciding what course of action to pursue.

A consultant initially told the council that its pier reconstruction plans would cost $2.5 million. But city engineers now say that estimate never accounted for the cost of using a marine barge to drive the steel pilings into the sea floor. Engineers now put the price tag at $4 million.

The council will decide in September what work it can afford. Construction is expected to begin sometime next April and will take three to six months to complete, officials said.