City OKs $350,000 for Initial Repairs to Pier

It took less than 24 hours for high seas to knock out more than 420 feet of the historic Ventura Pier.

But the process involved in fixing the damaged structure is expected to take months and cost millions.

On Monday, the City Council initiated that process by agreeing to spend $350,000 in insurance money for initial repairs and detailed studies of the pier’s collapse.

The city has a $3-million insurance policy on the pier. Officials expect to receive a $250,000 advance from the insurance company in the coming weeks, which added to the city’s $100,000 deductible will give officials an ample budget to begin repair work, such as removing broken pile stubs.

The council also agreed to pay a San Francisco Bay Area engineer $58,000 to conduct further studies on the best way to repair the pier.

The City Council decided last month to review three ways to fix the pier, which included leaving it at its current length, restoring it to its original 1,958-foot length using stronger materials, or rebuilding it to a length somewhere in between.

Charles I. Rauw of Martinez will conduct random tests of underwater and above-water pilings and take a computer model of past storm events dating to 1931 to determine how a repaired pier can best withstand future storms.