Pier to Be Restored to Original Wooden Condition

The Santa Monica Pier could be on its way to becoming a full wooden boardwalk again, should a permit request filed by the City of Santa Monica be granted by the California Coastal Commission.

The state agency will vote on the project—which will renovate 13,068-square-foot portion of the pier—at its Nov. 14 meeting in Santa Monica.

"Many people have probably noticed that for the last 10 years, the middle part of the pier has had metal plates in it," said pier manager Rod Merl.

The metal plates sit atop wooden pilings and were installed to address structural issues dealing with load balance, said Merl.

There are 19 such wood pilings that the project intends to replace with concrete ones, "much like the west end of the pier, which got destroyed in a 1983 storm and was rebuilt in concrete pilings," said Merl.

Once the concrete structure is in place, the boardwalk can be fitted with wooden planks.

"We will be able to go back to having a real wooden boardwalk again," said Merl.

According to the California Coastal Commission staff report (attached), the permit should be approved with several conditions.

Two such conditions require that public access to the pier be maintained and that compliance with the coastal access and marine resource protection policies of the Coastal Act are observed.

Because the construction will be on the narrow west end of the pier, temporary trestles will be constructed so that there will be room to accommodate public access.

The project could start as early as Nov. 19 and take as long as a year to complete.