Food trucks on the pier? Avila Beach project could bring new look to shuttered structure
The Avila Beach Pier has been closed for more than six years — but officials say they might finally be ready to start not only repairing, but improving, the structure.
This could mean a new look for the pier: one with shade structures, memorial plaques and even a food truck or two.
“We know it’s a long time coming, but we’ll get there,” Port San Luis Harbor District facilities manager Chris Munson told The Tribune ahead of a meeting in late October. “And it looks like everything’s pointing in the right direction.”
On Oct. 26, the Port San Luis Harbor District reviewed the current Avila Beach Pier rehabilitation project, as well as the option of “doing more than what is structurally necessary to both extend the length of its usable life and enhance the use of the facility,” according to a staff report.
“These concepts that are being presented to the board are to both give something that’s attractive and helpful for the public, but also some opportunities for donor recognition,” Munson said before the meeting. “And some improvements that that would make the pier essentially be renewed, and not just look like, you know, a weathered old pier.”
Ultimately the district board members decided they wanted to hear more about the existing rehabilitation plan before moving forward on discussion over more additions.
History of Avila Beach Pier, closure
The modern-day Avila Beach Pier was built in 1908. It replaced what was called the Peoples Wharf, which was destroyed in a massive storm in 1847.
Over the years, the pier was fixed and mended in various places.
In 1983, a storm wiped out three major portions of the structure, as well as numerous other piers across the state. That was around the time that the Harbor District purchased the pier from San Luis Obispo County.
The Avila Beach Pier has been closed since June 2015, when officials noticed that the structure was swaying under the weight of the crowds that had flocked to watch a pod of whales nearby.
The Harbor District shut down the pier at that time and began looking at options for fixing it.
Munson said district officials originally thought they might have to replace the entire structure, which would cost $20 million.
“That goes way beyond anything that the Harbor District could have done with either grant funding or its own funding,” he said.
Luckily, in the years since that initial assessment, the district heard from engineers who said the entire pier does not have to be scrapped. Instead, they advised officials to focus on some repairs to make the structure more sound.
Port San Luis was even able to reopen part of the pier in 2018.
Required repairs include fixing and replacing damaged piles, stringers, pile caps, railing, hardware and decking — which Munson said the district believes it has raised enough money to do via $1.5 million grants.
The district received a coastal development permit for the work in September, meaning it could begin the work on those mandatory structural improvements soon.
That still leaves a question of other improvements to made in the future, he said.
“We think that we can get the structural, the absolutely necessary structural repairs, done to open up the pier to its full length, but there’s still all of those other required improvements that we would need to do,” Munson said.
Fixes that need to be done soon include replacing the fire and water lines, sewer pipes and electrical wiring and conduits, as well as fixing the roof on the bait shop and completely replacing the public restrooms.
Food trucks, memorial plaques proposed for SLO County pier
At the harbor district’s meeting, Munson also presented some aesthetic improvements that could be added on to the project and potentially paid for with help from the Friends of the Avila Pier, a nonprofit organization that was formed by community volunteers to help preserve the pier.
Those include 600 memorial plaques that could showcase the names of major donors, a shade structure with seating to allow a place for visitors to rest, and a food truck pad.
Munson said he expects the food truck question might be the most divisive of the broad ideas he presented to the board, though he added that early plans for the rehabilitation of the pier asked to explore a restaurant being located at the end of the structure.
That’s just not feasible, Munson said, especially considering that the pier has to be closed routinely in the winter due to storms.
Food trucks could be there only during the summer months and seem like a good alternative, he said.
The ideas that were presented at the meeting are not firm plans, he added. Instead, Munson said he hopes they will act as jumping-off points for the public and the district directors to discuss the future they want for the pier.
“This was an attempt to do a bit of a soft-touch approach,” Munson said. “We definitely are open to different ideas or interpretations. This is just to get the discussion started.”
This story was originally published October 26, 2021 at 11:00 AM.
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