.The Future of the Capitola Wharf

At Capitola’s city council meeting on Aug. 24, the volunteer-coordinated Capitola Wharf Enhancement Project (CWEP) announced it has raised $150,000—half of the group’s goal of $250,000—in just a few months. The group expects to exceed its fundraising goal.

After the destructive storms that wreaked havoc across the county in January, Capitola residents came together to form CWEP, which is raising funds for the wharf. 

For Gerry Jensen, who helped establish CWEP, the wharf has served as a gathering place for his family throughout generations. Jensen says that many members of the community echo a similar connection to the wharf, and it’s this sentimental tie, he believes, that has helped the organization be so successful.

As a young boy, Jensen’s father would take him to the wharf to spend the day fishing—this meant hours uninterrupted together, eyes on the undulating waters below. These summer days sitting with a fishing pole at the end of the wharf were a given.

He has continued the tradition of long days on the wharf with his daughters and wife, the family marching down the bridge’s wooden planks to spot wildlife or throw a fishing line over the railing.  

“We would all go on to the wharf and spend time looking at the marine sanctuary, looking at Monterey Bay,” Jensen says. “It’s a touching, emotional place.”   

This sentimental tie to the iconic landmark is what inspired him to take action when winter storms ripped the wharf in two. 

The money raised by CWEP will go to what Jensen calls the “beautification” of the wharf—it will fund things like educational signage, sightseeing binoculars, artistic features like mosaic art, a fish-cleaning station and more. 

“Everybody that I’ve talked to has a story or has an experience of the wharf that they want to make sure that the next generation has the same opportunity to enjoy,” Jensen says. 

Winter Is Coming

Construction to reinforce the wharf against weather damage is fully funded through a mix of state and federal grants and money from a sales tax measure passed in 2016. Insurance will cover the costs to rebuild the areas that were destroyed during the storms. 

Earlier this summer, Capitola signed a $7.4 million contract with Cushman Contracting Corporation to carry out the project. The group will start construction sometime mid September.

The city hopes the wharf will reopen early next summer, but with El Niño and extreme weather patterns, Capitola public works director Jessica Kahn says it’s difficult to give a hard date for the wharf’s reopening. 

The project won’t be finished before wintertime, which means no guarantee that upcoming storms won’t cause additional damage or setback the wharf’s reconstruction time frame. 

“There’s really just no way to avoid construction in the wintertime, as this is a six to nine month project, at least,” Kahn says. 

The majority of work will consist of repairing and replacing the pilings. Some wooden poles will be replaced with fiberglass ones, which Kahn says will be more resilient. Others will be repaired to be sturdier against crashing waves. The project will also include widening the wharf to increase its stability. 

Kahn expects some minor damage to the wharf as a consequence of winter storms in the future—but thanks to the updates the city is planning, the kind of destruction that occurred in January will hopefully be avoided.

It’s still undetermined if the bait shop and the Wharf House Restaurant will reopen, both of which are currently inaccessible due to the wharf’s middle section having been washed away, says Kahn. 

“That is on our plan as we move forward with the resiliency project and bridge that gap is to get out to those buildings and really assess what kind of state so at this time, we don’t really know,” Kahn says.