This photo of the Cayucos Pier taken last June shows the cantilevered area at the end, where several support piles broke free in a February 2024 storm. A repair project is now going out for bids and would remove the 15-foot hanging segment of the pier. Photo courtesy SLO County
The historic and iconic Cayucos Pier is about to get a bit shorter, as the County moves to make repairs to the pier after a raging storm in 2024 broke loose several piles on the end of the 950-foot wooden structure.
County Parks and Recreation Director, Tanya Richardson asked County Supervisors for permission to go out for bids to repair the pier, which sustained damage in a wicked February 2024 storm. In that storm, several support piles, and batter (side) piles broke loose and washed up on the beach near the mouth of Cayucos Creek.
That left a significant segment of the pier’s end dangling with no support underneath.
A full inspection of the damage was done last June, and a report was issued in September. Since then, an additional batter pile broke loose and washed up on the beach.
“The above and below water inspection of the pier was conducted between June 24-27, 2024,” Richardson said. “It is recommended that the cantilevered portion of the deck be removed.”
The pier, which was completely rebuilt in a major project 10-years ago, has been partially closed to the public since the storm.
“There is approximately 15-feet of deck that is currently cantilevered off the end of the pier,” Richardson said. “The deck portion, past the last surviving bent, is currently only supported by the bolts that connect the beams under the deck, not the piles, as the designer intended.”
The chosen fix includes removal of the end of the pier and building new deck railing.
“This is an immediate measure,” Richardson said, “to reduce the risk of additional damage to the pier. Design plans are in process, and a construction cost estimate has been completed that will enable contractors to provide quotes to perform this work. The engineer’s estimate for remaining design work and removal of the cantilevered portion of the pier is $263,402. Funding needs to be allocated prior to proceeding with the construction bid process for this work.”
The County is currently in permit review for the repairs and the job is expected to continue into the next fiscal year.
A marine engineering firm, Richard Brady & Associates of San Diego, did the post-storm inspection report and said overall the pier is sound.
“The superstructure is in satisfactory condition,” the Brady report said, “with minor to moderate defects that are expected in a timber structure. There are minor issues that may affect public safety that should be addressed separately from the event damage, including exposed wires and some small handrail repairs.”
The storm broke loose four upright support piles and three (now four) batter piles. One other batter pile had come loose from the main pier, and that is the one that ended up on the beach just a few months ago.
Brady said while the dangling portion of the pier wasn’t likely to cause the rest of it to fail, that cantilevered end should be removed before another big storm hits.
The pier was originally built in the 1870s as part of Cass Landing, the shipping and import business started by Capt. James Cass circe-1875. The Cayucos Vet’s Hall, which is also undergoing a complete rebuilding, was the original Cass Landing’s warehouse.
The pier once served ocean-going steamships plying the California Coast, offloading goods from San Francisco and Los Angeles, and loading agricultural (mostly dairy) products from local farms for export.
Over the years the Pier has been repeatedly damaged by storms most recently in 1983 and again in 1993. By the time the County fenced off the last third of the Pier in 2013, the pier had lost so many piles that on some bents (rows of support piles perpendicular to the deck) had only two remaining. On certain busy days, in particular during the Memorial Day Lost at Sea Ceremony, when hundreds of people paraded to the end for a wreath ceremony, the pier swayed back and forth with the weight.
Shoreline Engineering was hired to design the repair project and Associated Pacific — both companies out of Morro Bay — did the work. The pier reopened in 2015 to much celebration and fanfare.
The Pier repair costs are expected to be recovered through the Federal Emergency Management Agency or FEMA.
“It is anticipated,” Richardson said, “that the funding of approximately $376,892, for Winter 2024 storm damage repair including debris clean up and Cayucos Pier repairs, will be reimbursed from FEMA, at 93.25% with the remaining 6.25 percent requested as General Fund contribution. Since the pier is covered by insurance, the first $500,000 deductible plus mitigated repair costs are eligible for FEMA reimbursement. Any costs beyond the deductible plus mitigated repair costs would be anticipated to be reimbursed by insurance coverage.”
