City of Capitola to host Wharf Resiliency Project groundbreaking event this week

CAPITOLA, Calif. (KION-TV)- UPDATE ON SEPT. 17, 2023 AT 6:18 PM: The City of Capitola will be holding a groundbreaking event to kick off construction of the Wharf Resilency Project on Friday afternoon.

The event will take place at 2:30 p.m. at the base of the Capitola Wharf.

Work on the wharf project is expected to start this week as the wharf was damaged earlier from the winter storms.

City officials said that some of the repairs include widening the wharf to make it more resilient against future storms. The project will include new decking and railing as well as repairs to public restrooms.

Officals say work is expected to be completed by late 2024.

Capitola City Council authorizes bid for Capitola Restoration Project

UPDATE ON MAY 11, 2023 AT 11:04 PM- The Capitola City Council unanimously approved the plans with staff recommendations for the Capitola Restoration Project.

The vote officially authorized the bid for the project to vendors.

The plans include widening the Capitola Wharf, adding bathroom stalls to both the head and base of the wharf and adding a new security gate.

Damaged railing will also be repaired along with new decking for the wharf.

The City will hope to award the contract to a vendor sometime in July which will be followed by an eight to nine month construction period.

A full restoration of the Capitola Wharf is expected to be completed by Summer 2024.

Original Story

On Thursday, the city of Capitola will be hosting a city council meeting. The main agenda item is discussing the newly released blueprints and plans for the Capitola Restoration project.

Also, this will give official authorization to bid to vendors. 

The Mayor of Capitola, Margaux Keiser, was so excited that Capitola was finally making a comeback. 

“We're excited. It feels really good,” Keiser said. “The vibe of the village is already just coming back.”

Since the storms in January, the businesses in Capitola are beginning to start to open once again. The buzz of the city is coming back. 

“One by one, stores and restaurants and everything are reopening,” Keiser said. “And the wharf is next.”

With the businesses reopening in Capitola, the city is now looking towards repairing the wharf. Jessica Kahn, the Public Works Director, said the project is long-term. 

“It's been under development since 2015. It's really to improve the stability of the wharf,” Kahn said. “So the main part of it that the public would see is that it'll be widened all the way.”

This year’s winter storms expedited the process for this restoration project. The storm damage was too much to not begin the project as soon as possible. 

“The wharf is ancient as it is,” Keiser said. “ And we already had plans as a city to rebuild it, reinforce it, make it stronger, make it better. And unfortunately, the storm just sort of expedited that.” 

Not only does the city want their city and wharf back, but they want to see improvements. 

“The theme here is to just build it back,” Keiser said. “Better than it was before.” 

Not only will the city be fixing the hole in the famous pier, but they also will be adding other additions like restrooms and attractions. 

“Hopefully, more attractions out there,” Keiser said. “Which will bring more people.” 

People around town, just like Beth Porter.  were elated to hear about the restoration process and its new additions. Beth has spent lots of time in Capitola in her lifetime and can’t wait to see when it’s all brand new. 

“I like what I heard,” Porter said. “It's going to be a little expanded with more restrooms. I think it's great. I don't think the cost is out of sight.” 

Jessica Kahn discussed the project budget and what amount was allocated just for repairing the storm damages from earlier this year. 

“It's approximately $8.9 million,” Kahn said. “A million dollars of which is solely the repair work that from the storm damage.” 

The city of Capitola estimated that the Wharf Resiliency Project would be finished by the beginning of next summer.

The city council meeting is tomorrow at 6 P.M. in the city council chambers.