White Rock mayor confident damaged pier will reopen this summer

The B.C. government is pledging a million dollars to help restore the White Rock pier and promenade that were badly damaged during a powerful windstorm last winter.

It will cost more than $16 million to rebuild the structure and an additional million dollars to repair the promenade and shoreline.

In December, loose boats and part of a dock torn free by the storm battered the 104-year-old landmark, leaving a hole the size of a 737 jet in the middle.

Mayor Darryl Walker says the city is committed to the project, even if can't cover the full cost with money that comes in from insurance, federal and provincial grants and a community fundraising drive.

"We will find the money, make no mistake about it," Walker said.

"We're a small community but we have some contingency funds and we'll also, if need be, tap into some borrowing."

Walker says repairs to the promenade should be finished later this month and he's optimistic the pier will reopen by the end of August.

A new and improved pier

Walker says the city plans to rebuild the pier in three phases.

The first phase will cover immediate repairs to ensure the structure is safe enough to reopen later this summer.

"That means that we have to go through all the pilings that are not safe anymore," he said.

"Then we're going to redo the entire deck."

The new structure will be built with a cement base on top of the pier. The planks will then be placed over top. Instead of the traditional wooden pilings, steel pilings will be used.

"We'll do what needs to be done now to get it open," he said.

"We'll get an idea when we come out of that what the second and third phases of this will look like."

Walker says the city will look at seismic upgrades and consider the possibility of extending the pier once the first phase is completed.

Fundraising drive

A group called Friends of the Pier is trying to raise two million dollars to help pay for the project.

As part of its efforts, committee chair Bob Bezubiak says people will have the chance to own part of the new pier by selling its 1,300 planks for $1,000 each.

"For people that work in the area, we call it the heart of White Rock," said committee chair Bob Bezubiak about the pier.

"To have it damaged and in the state that it's in right now is very disheartening for everybody," he told Gloria Macarenko, host of CBC's On the Coast.

The White Rock Business Improvement Association, Chamber of Commerce and several local businesses are also holding fundraising events in the coming months.

Owning a piece of the pier

The buyer of each plank will have their name engraved along their piece of the pier and will receive a certificate to display at home.

"[It's] for future generations to say to their kids and grandkids that I helped build a pier," Bezubiak said.

The fundraiser was launched Thursday and Bezubiak says there has already been a healthy response, including one business that bought 50 planks.

Listen to the full interview below: