Since 1957, the San Simeon Pier has been an outlook to California's pristine coastline for visitors and locals alike. But this year, one north coast resident's concerns over the pier's structure have prompted action by State Parks.
Jeff Walters frequents the pier and says it's been nearing disrepair for years now.
"I really want to save it, I don't want to shut it down or make it go away, I want to save it," Walters said.
Most recently, he became more concerned about the status of the pier when he noticed what looked to be a pylon from the pier floating in the water and another that washed ashore.
"You can see the pylon, and it looks like a seal at first," Walters said. "It creates not only a hazard to people, but it's real sad to lose an asset like that through neglect."
KSBY News reached out to California State Parks, the entity that has jurisdiction over the pier. Dan Falat, San Luis Obispo Coast District Superintendent, says the pier was last assessed a few years ago but due to recent storms the landmark could have been damaged.
As a result of KSBY's inquiries to State Parks regarding Walter's concerns, Falat says state-contracted consultants and engineers have since performed an assessment of the pier. Falat says his team determined that a portion of the pier could be sagging on one side, which has prompted a partial closure at the end of the right side of the pier.
"We're trying to schedule a full assessment of what the pier status is and begin to get a new timeline, a revised plan of what currently is occurring, and then a revised plan of how we go to fix it," Falat said.
Right now, he says there are no plans to close the entire pier. However, the portion of the pier that is fenced off will remain closed while State Parks and engineers work to address the structural issues of the pier.
