City of Santa Cruz accepts near $7 million in grant funding to improve Santa Cruz wharf

SANTA CRUZ, Calif (KION-TV) - The City of Santa Cruz has accepted nearly $7 million in grant funds from the California Coastal Conservancy to improve the Santa Cruz Wharf.

The city describes this grant as the largest single capital contribution to the wharf in at least 30 years. All of it, meant to bring immediate improvements and move forward several public access projects.

“It's really transformative, the immediate repairs are crucially needed," Santa Cruz Development and Asset Manager David McCormic said.

McCormic goes on to say, it won’t be a complete overhaul of the wharf.
However, it will bring preparation and protection in the face of future storms.

“We do have to take a step back and figure about how do we adapt what we need to prepare in a way that will make it even more resilient for the future," McCormic said.

Some of the improvements planned with the funding include, a new small boat landing, widening the entrance gate, as well as fixing the outer east parking lot.

“That'd be awesome. Smoothing out the wharf definitely. It’s pretty bumpy coming in and out of here," San Jose visitor Tee Tieu said.

The city points out, the wharf wasn’t designed to handle the weight of modern vehicles. That's something many regulars are looking forward to seeing addressed.

“My buddies have a lot of lowered cars. They're really big into lowering any car they get and when they drive it on here, it scrapes everywhere. Especially when it's possible. You'll hear the whole entire bumper and everything hit the ground," Santa Cruz resident Nathaniel Dillard said.

Much of the work ties back into the Wharf Master Plan. The city adds they're hoping to get work started by next fall, with major work in the offseason.

Santa Cruz City Council unanimously accepted the grant at last night’s meeting. As part of the grant, the city is also required to provide a match of approximately $1.6 million dollars.