SAN DIEGO — The Ocean Beach Pier was already closed because of previous damage, but after a weekend of getting pounded by huge waves, some wonder if it will ever be open again. The 57-year-old pier is set to be replaced in coming years, but some in the beachside town are hoping for a more immediate solution.
The pier took a beating over the holiday weekend with 8-14 foot waves severely damaging one of the support pilings.
“We saw the picture online of it completely flooded and we’re like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ We were heartbroken,” said Tom Carlson, who was visiting his brothers in OB. “We are very disappointed. I recently lost 101 pounds and we walked that pier maybe ten times a day and we loved it. We ate breakfast out there and loved it out there.”
The pier has been closed since October after briefly reopening in July, and now the City of San Diego says it’ll stay that way for at least the rest of the winter storm season, at which time they’ll assess all the damage.
“We’ll never walk on it again I’m sure, you know, the way things are, that takes forever to do anything down there anymore,” said Scott “Black Dog” DeWarns, who was around in the 60’s when the pier was originally built. “It was our favorite walk in the morning, it was a gift.”
Over the past five years, the City has spent $1.7 million dollars on repairs and it’s been closed 30% of the time due to damage.
“It’s been catastrophic for businesses, especially afternoon traffic because we used to have a lot of people walking the pier every day, and so it’s affected a lot of the restaurants, a lot of the retailers,” said Denny Knox, Executive Director of the Ocean Beach Main Street Association.
Knox has been working on the committee for the Ocean Beach Pier Renewal Project. The City’s consultant has been busy drafting another design for a new pier.
“They’re going to present what they think the general public has told them based on all the information they’ve received,” said Knox. “And they’ve received quite a bit which takes a long time to go through.”
The next workshop has not been scheduled yet, but it should happen over the next few months. The entire cost of a new pier has not been determined yet, but $8.4 million in state funding has been set aside for it.
“You know how things go, so it could be a while, so that’s the bummer but good things take time,” said longtime OB local, Johnny Longway.
The City of San Diego's Parks and Recreation Department started cleanup efforts across the city Tuesday. Officials say it will take roughly three days to clean the sand and debris that washed up on other piers and boardwalks along San Diego's coast.
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