Businesses in Capitola Village starts rebuilding process 

CAPITOLA, Calif. (KION-TV)- Businesses in Capitola Village are trying to rebuild. That winter storm brought powerful destructive waves, devastating restaurants near the water.

Jeff Lantis, the owner of The Sand Bar told KION he is taking it day by day. Lantis is trying to get things back up but it has not been easy for him. He is grateful for the outpouring of help, but also says the cost of cleaning up the damage is starting to add up.

“I believe there's 30,000 dollars in appliance damage,” said Lantis. “A lot of tables and chairs, some of them were washed away. Some of them were chipped, tipped over, and broken.” 

Lantis, like many business owners, is starting the rebuilding process.

“It's really trying,” said Lantis. “There's new stuff you find out every day as to what your next steps are.”

For Lantis, this process hasn’t been easy. for him it's not just insurance. 

“Finding storage for the stuff that was there because you had to rip it all out,” said Lantis. “We have employees that we want to keep and their lives are affected as well and some of them have to pay their bills.”

During spring break and summer vacation, many people come to Capitola Beach. Lantis is hoping to reopen but he doesn't know what the timeline is going to look like just yet. 

“We've heard some real positive estimates of spring break which would be amazing at this point,” said Lantis. “But U feel like we would be lucky to be up and running by summer.”

To prevent businesses from being wrecked, by strong swells in the future. Lantis would like to see improvements to the structure underneath the restaurants. 

“The structure underneath has been compromised,” said Lantis. “If another big swell or king tide comes through, it's going to wreak havoc on the foundations and everything. If they could just put a little bit of rocks to help the surf from coming in, that would be very helpful for the future.”

The Small Business Administration set up a temporary mobile business recovery center at capitola city hall, for businesses impacted by the storm. SBA staff is on site to help owners with disaster loans. That site is open Monday to Friday froM 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Santa Cruz County reps told KION the estimated costs of damages throughout the county is about $76 million dollars.