Restoration of Seacliff State Beach could take a year, community urged to be part of process

SEACLIFF, Calif. (KION-TV)- Seacliff State Beach suffered through tragedy earlier this year with the winter storms. The extreme waves took out the pier that connected to the iconic cement ship. 

 The people who would venture off to Seacliff were sad to see one of their favorite places now destroyed, just like Ireland Armenio.

“I was super sad, honestly,” Armenio said. “Just kind of devastated that this all got taken away.”

The winter storms demolished the well-known pier on Seacliff. The California State Parks’ Associate Parks and Recreation Specialist, Scott Rohlf, addressed the concerns about the pier and the overall restoration of Seacliff State Beach. 

“As of right now, we removed the pier,” Rohlf said. “It presented a pretty significant hazard to the public in its current state as it was damaged from the storms.” 

Now that the pier is officially removed from the water, the state parks are looking towards the future. They also want to ensure the public is included in this future restoration of the beach. 

“We will be engaging the public,” Rohlf said. “And understanding what the future might be for Seacliff and the pier as a whole.” 

People at the Seacliff State Beach on Thursday, just like Kyle Suzuki, said they’re excited to see the upcoming plans for the beach clean-up.

“We hope it’s getting rebuilt,” Suzuki said. “And we can continue our walk all the way down.”

Another person attending the beach, Lydia, echoed the same sentiment. 

“If they wanted to rebuild it, where people go out and really be in the ocean,” Lydia said. “That is a fun thing to be surrounded by the water and the waves and everything.” 

The California Parks Department is also producing a sea level rise study in the area. They want help from the community about how to restore Seacliff's best.

“We will have a fairly robust public outreach as part of our sea level rise analysis study. We will be engaging the community,” Rohlf said. “We will be trying to spread that word throughout California and try to see what our users would like to see here.” 

Overall, the people who attend Seacliff State Beach still are enjoying the place in the meantime but can’t wait to see what this new chapter for the beach will bring. 

“It’s still beautiful here,” Suzuki said. “We’re still enjoying it and trying to make the most of it.” 

The California State Parks Department says that the Seacliff Restoration Project is estimated to take 9-12 months time and will cost approximately $690,000.