Seal Beach : Coast Commission’s OK Asked for New Restaurant on Pier

The city has applied to the California Coastal Commission to completely rebuild the restaurant at the ocean end of the Seal Beach Pier, which could cost as much as $300,000, officials said.

Assistant City Manager Dan Joseph said plans at this point are “very preliminary.” But, he said, “We’re looking at alternative methods of construction, such as prefabricated walls, in an effort to lower costs.”

The Coastal Commission, which must approve any shoreline construction, is scheduled to consider the application Tuesday.

In September, the city applied for a grant from the California Coastal Conservancy, a state agency formed by the Legislature to assist in coastal projects. That grant would be for the entire amount of construction costs, Joseph said. The conservancy has not responded.

Last March, the conservancy awarded the city $88,000 to rebuild its lifeguard tower, bait and snack shops and other pier-oriented structures.

The single-story restaurant, owned by the city, will blend a wooden-texture, nautical motif with the turn-of-the-century design of the rebuilt pier.

Heavily damaged during a driving storm in January, 1983, the pier was virtually destroyed by a second onslaught of waves, wind and heavy rain in early March of that year. Reconstruction costs, originally estimated at between $500,000 and $750,000, have risen to about $2.3 million.