Gangway could prove to be less expensive than breakwater

Gangway could prove to be less expensive than breakwater

Corp., a City Hall-supported nonprofit organization that oversees pier operations. “If this idea is doable, let’s make it happen.”

In 2003, the City Council earmarked $2.1 million to help the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rebuild the breakwater. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — through Congressional funds — had committed $4.5 million toward the rebuilding effort, which Santa Monica is required to match. The breakwater rebuilding project in 1994 was estimated to cost nearly $8 million, but now that figure has doubled if it’s to be built in the next few years. City Hall would be responsible for $4.6 million, and the Army Corps. would pay $8.7 million.

The Army Corps. was ready to begin the project a few years ago, but the city of Santa Monica held off on completing a state-mandated environmental review that would include a study of traffic impacts that a new harbor could create.

“We are the ones dragging our feet,” said City Councilman Ken Genser, adding the gangway idea was recently pursued by Santa Monica Pier officials after they took a tour of other commercial boating operations along the California coast. “My goal is to have fishing boats and water taxis return, and if we can do that without a breakwater, great.”

Franz-Knight said he and pier restoration board members earlier this year toured piers in Santa Barbara, Monterey, Santa Cruz and Long Beach. The competition they witnessed was motivating enough to start seriously pursuing boating operations in Santa Monica.

“The thing we are missing is boat access, and all of these guys have it in abundance,” Franz-Knight said, adding Santa Monica in the future could lose tourists to cities such as Long Beach, which is revitalizing its harbor. “We need to start looking at services we don’t have...

“When you walk out onto the (Santa Monica) pier, it almost seems like a disconnect” between the land and sea, he added.

It’s unclear who would pay for an elevated gangway. The financial details will be laid out next month by Mark Richter, a paid private consultant who used to be City Hall’s economic development director. The study will address whether opportunities exist to finance a gangway privately, publicly or both.

A gangway also could serve the Santa Monica Fire Department to safely evacuate people in case of an emergency. Right now, there is an escape hatch on the floor of the pier, but many officials believe it’s inadequate.

Because it’s elevated, the gangway would be able to handle big swells in the winter the months. Franz-Knight estimates boats could operate at least 200 days a year.

GIVING THE BREAKWATER IDEA A BREAK The last time City Hall made contact with the Army Corps about the breakwater-rebuilding effort was in 2003. At that time, it was up to City Hall to conduct the traffic study and submit an Environmental Impact Report, also known as an “EIR,” said Army Corps spokesman Fred-Otto Egeler.

“Once the city goes forward, then we’ll go forward,”

“The city has to get back with us.” — he said

Although the breakwater project is on the Army Corps’ priority list, funding isn’t secured by Congress, Egeler said.

And while he isn’t advocating one way or the other for a new breakwater, doing nothing is what concerns Councilman Genser. During recent budget study sessions, he asked that an update be provided by staff on where the project is heading.

“There is some federal money likely sitting there that we don’t want to slip through our fingers,” Genser said. “We need to do an EIR.”

Apparently, no one is sure whether the money is still available for the breakwater. As city staff put it in a recent report, “Staff’s understanding is that the federal capital money has not been officially de-obligated, and so is still allocated to the project but will need to be re-allocated and possibly augmented through Congressional appropriation.”

A BREAKDOWN OF HISTORY Over the past few decades, the 2,000-foot-long sea wall has slowly deteriorated, leaving now only a glimpse of it at low tide. Rebuilding the breakwater would include a harbor and dock for boats, which is required by the Army Corps as part of its funding.

The Army Corps would repair the existing breakwater, rebuild 900 feet of it and construct a small boulder field to restore the rocky habitat.

If installed, the breakwater would have 12 moorings, where recreational boats could dock temporarily. It also would allow some fishing boats or party boats to take people out throughout the year.

However, the environmental impacts could be significant. The purpose of the breakwater is to minimize the wave energy before it hits the shore, but that also means the shoreline could be affected.

Studies have shown that bacteria levels are higher in areas with breakwaters because the man-made barriers prevent the ocean’s waves from washing unhealthy waste out to sea. Shoreline erosion and other environmental degradation are also possible.

The city of Santa Monica constructed the breakwater in 1934 to protect the pier’s commercial activity and to create a protected small boat harbor. In the 1970s, about 78 commercial and recreational vessel moorings were maintained. By the early 1980s, it diminished to 48 moorings because of the incremental loss of mass and height of the breakwater. And then in 1982, several storms dislodged and scattered the breakwater. Within a few years, the U.S. House of Representatives’ public works committee approved a resolution authorizing the Army Corps to study the feasibility of reconstructing it. Plans have been on hold ever since.

NOT A SIGN OF THE TIMES The sign over the entrance to the pier still boasts sport fishing and yachts, but the area hasn’t seen that kind of activity for 30 years. The sign, which has been there since the 1940s, was given to the city by the Santa Monica Businessmen’s Association and is now a historic landmark.

The pier’s Franz-Knight wants the sign to be more than a landmark — he wants it be a true advertisement. And the gangway might just make it so.

“Finally, we can be true to our sign,” he said.