Paving the piers

June Casagrande

Against a weak winter sun, the piers seem bleak, stripped down to

skeletons crawling with swarms of workers. But by the time the summer sun

reigns high, the rebirth of the Balboa and Newport piers will be

complete. Both will have a stronger appeal and stronger foundations.

The two historic landmarks on the Balboa Peninsula are undergoing

their most thorough renovation ever. On Jan. 2, the Balboa Pier closed

and, on Jan. 28, the Newport Pier followed. By time they reopen at the

end of February and March, respectively, both will have been effectively

gutted and refinished. The process is expected to add 20 years to their

lifespans.

The biggest part of the job, said Lloyd Dalton of the Newport Beach

Public Works Department, is replacing the concrete decks on each pier.

“The old pier surfaces were broken in a lot of places,” Dalton said.

“They were getting much too flexible in the ocean storms and wind. We’re

stiffening up the piers to their original structural integrity.”

Crews have torn up all the concrete on which tourists, visitors and

fishermen have walked since the piers were young. By Wednesday, pouring

of the new concrete was finished on Balboa Pier and just beginning on

Newport Pier. In a task involving about 30 workers at once, a hose

carrying just-mixed cement ran to the end of the 1,032-foot-long Newport

Pier from a cement mixer parked on the shore. Cement will cover the

wooden deck that serves as the under-skeleton of the 24-foot-wide pier.

“The deck will be all brand-new concrete,” Dalton said. “It makes it

stronger and also improves the look a great deal.”

This new surface will definitely make the most noticeable difference

on the Newport Pier. But on the Balboa Pier, an even more salient

improvement is on tap. The corroded metal pipe handrail running the

919-foot length will be replaced with a new wooden handrail.

“That’s going to be pretty striking,” Dalton said.

Beneath the piers, some less-striking but no-less-important work has

also played an important role in the $2.7-million renovation project.

Pilings rotted with time and weakened by powerful waves have been

replaced and reinforced, along with the steel attachments that hold them

together.

Another major change also combines functional and aesthetic

improvements. Trenches running along the westerly side of both piers will

hide utility lines from view, while giving workers better access to the

electricity, gas, water and phone services they carry.

When the bulk of the work on both piers is done by the end of March,

and when Ruby’s reopens on the Balboa Pier and Newport Pier Seafood

Company Restaurant reopens on the Newport Pier, a new chapter in Balboa

history will begin.

“These are pretty significant changes,” said Jim Fournier, local

historian and brains behind www.talesofbalboa.com.

The piers, he said, have been central to life on the peninsula since

their first incarnations. The Newport Pier was first built in 1889 as

McFadden Wharf. Seventeen years later, a companion -- the Balboa Pier --

appeared on the horizon to its west.

At its peak, McFadden wharf was the site where 550 ships each year

unloaded lumber and stocked up with local goods like produce and hides.

Then, in 1939, a summer storm wiped out the the wharf and the Balboa

Pier.

“They both had to be completely rebuilt,” Fournier said. “But it’s

commonly believed that McFadden wharf was in the same location as Newport

Pier, which replaced it. That’s not true. McFadden wharf was actually a

little further west than the pier now stands.”

When the McFadden trading legacy waned, buckling under rough

competition, both piers settled into their current personas as places to

walk, fish and watch the waves -- a legacy that will soon continue.

“The Balboa Pier has definitely been one of the center points of

Balboa,” Fournier said, recalling the late 1970s when it was the place of

huge Fourth of July celebrations.

“I remember kids would throw firecrackers up on the pier to make

everybody jump. Fourth of July was a really big deal in those days,” he

said.

Officials chose the winter months to do the work with locals and

tourists in mind, as well as management at Ruby’s and Newport Pier

Seafood. Both the restaurants are slowest in the winter months.

Contractor John S. Meek Co. is ahead of schedule for work on both

piers, thanks in part to good weather. By mid-April, when even the

finishing touches like new signs and a new parking entrance area at

Balboa Pier are complete, businesses and residents alike are looking

forward to enjoying beautifully redone piers.

“It’ll be really refreshing for the whole area,” Fournier said. “Those

piers are really important. Without them, this wouldn’t really be

Balboa.”

-- June Casagrande covers Newport Beach. She may be reached at (949)

574-4232 or by e-mail at o7 [email protected] .