Determining what went wrong during Santa Cruz Wharf collapse will be long process, city says

Santa Cruz officials said Tuesday they are continuing to investigate the wharf collapse that sent two workers into the raging ocean. City executives promised change, along with a sense of who and what failed but offered no specifics, saying all of that would need more time. 

Such was the tenor of the first official and public report to the Santa Cruz City Council since the Dec. 23 incident. Despite city staff telling the elected officials that they have “continued to learn” about what went wrong, the public presentation had little new information. 

City staff are doing “the work of methodically taking a deep, comprehensive look at what happened, it takes time,” Office of Emergency Services Manager Meredith Albert told the councilmembers. “We’re not going to be able to provide you with information about who was at fault, what went wrong and what we’re doing differently” right away.

Mayor Fred Keeley, the only elected official to pose any questions to staff about the incident and the work that has followed, asked about cost. Parks and Recreation Director Tony Elliot told the council it could cost $18 million to replace the 150-foot section of wharf that collapsed. 

Elliot did say in his presentation that no injuries were reported, but later said that no “serious injuries” were reported. Project manager Norm Daly, who was one of two people sent to sea when the wharf collapsed, told Lookout he had injured his leg, and was seen still walking with a cane two weeks later. As Lookout reported last week, Cal/OSHA, the state agency that oversees workplace safety, said it was investigating the incident. 

Through a survey conducted last week of 16 of the wharf’s 20 businesses, the city’s economic development department got a clearer picture of the incident’s impact on wharf businesses, which struggled when the city shut down the area between Dec. 23 and Jan. 4. According to the survey results, businesses estimate they lost, combined, up to $900,000 in sales. Restaurants lost between $45,000 and $300,000 each, while retail businesses lost, on average, $17,400. 

The city council on Tuesday approved a $155,000 economic recovery package for the wharf businesses. The city, which owns the wharf, will not collect rent from wharf tenants in January and February, offer free two-hour parking for patrons through February and set aside $25,000 to help employees whose pay was affected by the wharf’s closure. The city is also working with the U.S. Small Business Administration to process applications for low-interest economic injury disaster loans. As part of the package, the city will spend $50,000 promoting the wharf and its businesses. Part of that effort will be the new “Wharf Wednesdays,” which will feature bands and a raffle contest for customers. 

The future of the century-old wharf, however, remains the lingering question. Elliot said the city would soon undertake a “Phase 2” structural analysis of the wharf, and come back in the spring with recommendations for how it could move forward, if at all, with replacing the fallen deck. 

District 4 City Councilmember Scott Newsome, whose district includes the wharf, called for the creation of an ad-hoc committee to “determine the next steps around climate resiliency and the future of the wharf.” The city council unanimously agreed.

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