SANTA CRUZ — City of Santa Cruz staff provided an overview and update regarding the fate of the Santa Cruz Wharf’s collapsed south end at the Tuesday Santa Cruz City Council meeting, stating that the ultimate decision to rebuild the structure’s lost end or reinforce the current abridged version will be made in April.
Before the closed session portion of Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Fred Keeley thanked the efforts of Wharf workers following the Dec. 23 incident.
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Following the closed session, and with the approval of the meeting’s consent agenda and consent public hearing, the City Council then received an update on the Wharf from city staff members including Parks and Recreation Director Tony Elliot, Economic Development Director Bonnie Lipscomb and Emergency Operations Manager Meredith Albert.
Santa Cruz City Manager Matt Huffaker began the presentation with a quick recap of the Dec. 23 incident, where a massive swell took about 150 feet of the wooden wharf south end into the Pacific Ocean.
“As the council, community and now nation are aware, on Dec. 23 our municipal wharf sustained major damage due to one of the strongest west swell and high surf events that we’ve experienced on record,” said Huffaker at the meeting. “We know there’s been a lot of interest and curiosity about the ongoing recovery efforts, as well as plans underway as we look to the future of the Wharf, and some big decisions that the council will have on the horizon as we complete additional assessments.”
Elliot then delivered a rundown of the Dec. 23 event and the immediate recovery efforts leading up to the reopening of the 110-year old structure to the public Jan. 4. Elliot explained that two critical things needed to happen before the Wharf could be reopened: locating the crane and other heavy equipment that sank to the ocean floor using sonar, and having an engineer assess the structure to ensure that it was safe.
The parks and recreation director pointed out that about 300 pilings were lost to the ocean Dec. 23 alongside other debris and that the cleanup efforts along the coast are ongoing.
“We have taken a collaborative approach with multiple agencies to get that cleaned up,” said Elliot. “I believe today we will have Seabright Beach cleaned up, which will end our Phase 1 cleanup for the most exigent issues as far as debris.”
Elliot said that in the next week or two, the city will receive a proposal from engineering firm Moffatt & Nichol, which completed the Wharf’s Phase 1 structural assessment, to conduct a more thorough Phase 2 structural assessment, where engineers will study the Wharf both above and under the water. The Phase 2 assessment results will help city officials decide whether or not to rebuild the Wharf’s lost end.
“What I’ll say first is that the end of the Wharf does not pose any additional risks to the rest of the Wharf, but there’s some questions as to what we do with it,” said Elliot. “Do we cap it? Do we tear parts of it down for safety? What do we do with it exactly?”
Lipscomb then spoke about the economic impacts of the collapse on the Wharf businesses and employees. Lipscomb explained how her department surveyed Wharf businesses to understand the depth of the financial impact and what would best help them recover from the incident. She said that in sum, Wharf businesses lost an estimated $800,000 to $900,000 as a result of the structure’s temporary closure.
To help businesses recover, the city created promotions such as providing patrons with two hours of free parking on the Wharf, extended throughout January and February at the Tuesday meeting. Business owners also asked for more promotional events on the Wharf.
“We want people to come and shop and dine on the Wharf, and support these businesses and support our almost 400 employees that work on the Wharf,” said Lipscomb. “We’re doing Wharf Wednesdays starting next Wednesday and we have the Lost Boys lined up for next week. And we have a different band for every week throughout January and throughout February.”
Lipscomb then pointed out that the second phase structural assessment analysis is estimated to come before the City Council for consideration in April.
Albert then discussed the methodical process of studying the Dec. 23 incident and determining the factors responsible for the collapse.
“It’s important at this point, I think, to emphasize that speculation about what happened — who was at fault and what should have been done differently — is premature,” said Albert. “There’s a process to reach these conclusions. Making changes right now based on assumptions about what we think we understand, treats these assumptions as fact and forgoes the necessary work of evaluating and systematically reviewing. So, our next step, as a city and as an emergency manager, is to go through that process.”
Before the closed session portion of Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Keeley took time to honor Sentinel reporter Jessica A. York, who died Saturday after a years-long battle with cancer. York, who published her last piece for the Sentinel less than a week before succumbing to her illness served as a journalist in the city of Santa Cruz for more than a decade.
“Jessica York is someone that I’ve worked with, and I know many of you have, for years and years in a variety of capacities,” said Keeley at the meeting. “The level at which she was committed to her journalism and the entire community is really quite remarkable. When she became ill, she worked through a lot of that. She stayed with the Sentinel — stayed engaged as a journalist, engaged in her community. I think it’s pretty clear that we will all miss her writing. We will all miss her reporting. We will all miss her smart journalism. I want to express our thanks for her dedication and her life in journalism and express to her colleagues at the Sentinel — and her colleagues in the broader journalism community — our appreciation and how much we will miss her, and how we share the sadness of the journalism community with her passing.”
To watch the meeting, visit cityofsantacruz.com.