Capitola looks forward to groundbreaking ceremony for the Wharf Resiliency Project

CAPITOLA, Calif. (KION) - More than half a year later, and efforts to rebuild the historic Capitola Wharf remains strong.

"Luckily we had had this project in the queue for a really long time, so we were able to start it this year," said Jessica Kahn, Capitola's Public Works Director.

Friday marks a very memorable day, the groundbreaking for the resiliency project will start.

This project will repair storm damage from earlier this year.

"It reminded me of home because again, in San Diego, in ocean beach, our pier had been destroyed two or three years ago," said Mike Giordano who is visiting from San Diego.

Once completed hopefully by the summer of next year, the wharf will not look the same as it did before the storm.

"The main change that the public is going to see is it's going to be widened. so there's a very short writing part right now, but it will be that wide all the way through. So it will make it more stable. So hopefully that we don't have the same damage occur in the future with future storms," said Kahn.

The Enhancement project will be working parallel with the resiliency project.

This project will improve and beautify the wharf with a new entryway, lighting fixtures, more seating, and something fun for the kids!

"We're looking at an artistic feature like a scavenger hunt for kids in the deck. we also have binocular viewing stations that we're going to have for those locations," said Gerry Jensen, the chair of the Capitola Wharf Enhancement Project.

The enhancement project was approved by the city as a resolution a few weeks back. It also community members to raise dollars for improvement.

The community outreach has just been amazing and it's been great to work directly with the city and the city council and making sure that, you know, this work opens on time sometime late next year," said Jensen.

Gerry tells KION the Enhancement Project when completed will cost around $300,000.

If you would like to donate to the project visit village.com/wharf.