Editordude: Thanks to reporter Dave Schwab and the Times of San Diego, we have an update on what’s happening with the OB Pier replacement project. It’s been nearly a decade since the Rag broke the story that the pier had reached the end of its service life. (They call it the OB Pier “Renewal Project”, but that sounds like the current pier will simply be “renewed.” Not so, as the current pier needs to be “replaced.”)
By Dave Schwab / Times of San Diego / August 18, 2026
Given the city’s existing budget crunch, residents and business owners have been asking if the Ocean Beach Pier Renewal project has been put on the back burner until the next city administration takes office in 2028 or the budget rights itself.
The city says no.
“The Ocean Beach Pier Renewal project is still in the permitting and environmental review phase,” said senior city spokesman Tyler Becker. “Given the scale of the project, a comprehensive Environmental Impact Report is required under the California Environmental Quality Act, which can typically take anywhere from two to five years, depending upon the findings and potential impacts.”
Planning for a new replacement pier has been ongoing for about 3 ½ years starting in early 2023, when the city began formal public workshops and concept development. However, initial structural studies pointing to the end of the pier’s service life began eight years ago in 2018, when consultants determined continually repairing it would cost more in the long run than replacing it.
Asked if she felt planning for Ocean Beach Pier’s replacement is being dragged out, Denny Knox, executive director for Ocean Beach MainStreet Association, said:
“We’re hoping that isn’t true, but nonetheless, it feels like we are in slow motion for sure. I know that other local organizations are interested in getting the project fired up once again. I’m going to be positive and say that we expect it to be rebuilt within a reasonable time frame.”
Knox was on the now-disbanded Ocean Beach Pier Task Force of business owners, residents and city officials studying the prospect of repairing or replacing the community’s iconic fishing pier.
Another former Ocean Beach Pier Task Force member, Ralph Teyssier, a structural engineer and son of Leonard Teyssier, who built the pier, remains concerned that the project may have been placed permanently as a low priority by the city administration.
“The city is only kicking the can down the road with the pier. The environmental impact report should have been out a couple of years ago,” he said. “The public overwhelmingly wants a new pier. I think the city doesn’t have any money to do anything and is using that partly as an excuse to put the brakes on it.”
Teyysier wrote a letter recently to the city inquiring about the timeline of the draft environmental impact report on the pier’s replacement. He noted that, according to the project schedule posted on the city’s website, the draft environmental review was expected to be circulated “around this time” in 2026.
Noting that the environmental review for the pier’s renewal is approaching two years in the process, Becker says it is anticipated that it will be ready for public review “in spring 2027.” He added that an updated estimated project timeline is now posted on the project webpage.
Becker pointed out the project must secure site and coastal development permits and coordinate with multiple regulatory agencies including, but not limited to, the California Coastal Commission, Department of Fish and Wildlife, Regional Water Quality Control Board and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
“Each of which involves its own comprehensive review,” Becker said.
“While the public may not have heard much about the project recently, it continues to move steadily forward behind the scenes through the detailed permitting and environmental processes,” added Becker. “The team is exploring funding sources for the project, including potential state and federal grants and the possibility of a public-private partnership.”
Others in the Ocean Beach and Point Loma communities are concerned about the pier replacement project and the need to get it kick-started once again.
“The pier is a treasured part of our district that has been neglected for far too long,” said Nicole Crosby, a candidate for the District 2 seat this November.
“The city must treat this as a priority — not a project that is allowed to linger indefinitely,” said Peninsula activist Margaret Virissimo. “Residents deserve a firm funding strategy, enforceable deadlines, regular public progress reports and clear accountability from city leadership. Every year of delay will likely make this project more expensive and keep this important public landmark unavailable to San Diegans. Ocean Beach deserves urgency, transparency and action.”
Opened in 1966 as a free public sport fishing pier, the Ocean Beach Pier was permanently closed 57 years later in October 2023, due to its deteriorating condition. The long-term pier replacement project planning started in 2018, when a consultant’s study determined the existing pier had reached the end of its serviceable life due to storm damage and high surf over the last 60 years.
Timeline on Ocean Beach Pier Renewal project:
2018: A structural study determines the pier has reached the end of its useful service life.
2023: The formal renewal and replacement initiative launches with public workshops, alongside storm closures.
2024: The city completes extensive community outreach and reveals a preferred replacement design concept.
2025–2026: The project moves through the environmental review and regulatory permitting stage with agencies like the California Coastal Commission.
2028–2029 (Projected): Anticipated start for final design documents and construction bidding, with building slated to begin around early 2029.
So it takes two to five years for an environmental impact report. Problem # 1.
Let’s add:
• It Is Unnecessary!
Completely Indefensible! San Diego needs to expend hundreds of millions of dollars on a a pier like a Giraffe needs a microwave. There’s not a single argument that places this nonsense anywhere on a list by any sober assessment of what San Diego needs. Needs. Not wants. Not “would be nice… “. Needs. Imagine putting the same money toward, oh geez, how about flood control along Chollas Creek? Police and Fire? Bridge and waterline and sidewalk and sewer pipe replacement? Waste control? Water treatment? Dams and distribution? Need I go on? Go ahead. Tell me any I’ve described just now rank lower than a pier… a “bridge to nowhere” where some few people can recreational fish, and some other few can see the ocean from an elevated view – as if that’s an immediate civic priority. Oh, and it’s also something beach communities like Coronado, Del Mar, Solana Beach, and La Jolla don’t have, don’t seek, don’t need, and seem to thrive far better than Ocean Beach without. Devote your passion and energy and effort to something that matters. This reflects very poorly on you.
• It Is Futile.
The Pacific has already made it clear how it feels about such an intrusion. How about listening? This is an exercise in hubris and self-delusion. The moment it opens it will be under relentless attack by forces of nature, and the assured “structural defects” you always get from “the lowest bidder.” It’s a complete waste.
• It Will Cost Even More!
It is utterly CERTAIN to exceed any cost estimates by 50-100% Likely more. I’ve already mentioned more pressing properties, so I won’t repeat myself. The cost is ungodly, Look! Just look! It’s estimate… which we all know is lowball because the estimator is in favor of the project – has ALREADY nearly DOUBLED since the idea was first suggested! What? You still think it’s worth it? OK. Alright. OK… then let’s create a Special Assessment District for just properties in Ocean Beach, and have it tax just OB property owners for the $200 million to construct, and the other several hundred thousand dollars a year to maintain it! Hey there’s something like 1,200 parcels in the 742 acres of Ocean Beach… heck that’s only $200,000 in addition tax burden EACH! Plus another $750-1,000 a year for upkeep. That’s only like $3,500 a month! Sound good? You still want that pier? Well there’s your solution.
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Surfrider Foundation
California Coastal Commission
San Diego County Taxpayers Association
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Ocean Beach Pier
Obviously, you’re not a golfer…
Wow, sounds like everyone connected to the project gave the reporter some words, but nothing with any action. Another go along ,to get along activity, as time passes by and the project gets shuffled to the next person and back again. Too bad.
Thank you to the OB Rag for publishing the Times of San Diego article by Dave Schwab.
While this update is most appreciated, there is much more to unpack, and this discussion needs to be re-upped at the community level if we are going to get this project back on track.
First and foremost, it is important to understand that the substantial funding needed to construct the new pier is expected to come largely through state and federal grants and potentially other outside funding sources. While one reader’s comments about the City’s lack of attention to our many other infrastructure needs are well noted and certainly understandable, rebuilding the OB Pier should not be viewed simply as taking hundreds of millions of dollars out of the City’s General Fund that would otherwise go to streets, sewers, flood control, police or fire protection.
Another point worth emphasizing is that the OB Pier, while located in Ocean Beach, has long been a valued regional park and coastal resource shared by people throughout San Diego. In addition to providing free and equitable recreational access to our coast, generations of San Diegans have fished from the pier — and for some families, that fishing has also helped put food on the table.
We should also take exception to the suggestion that a new pier would somehow be a drain on the City. The OB Pier became a far greater regional attraction than anyone could have imagined when it was first opened on the July Fourth weekend of 1966. Before being shuttered, it consistently attracted more than half a million visitors annually and became a hugely significant economic asset to Ocean Beach as well as to San Diego at large.
And those numbers reflect the old pier. A thoughtfully designed replacement, with expanded public amenities and recreational opportunities, has every reason to become an even greater regional attraction and economic resource.
The Pier has now been continuously closed since October 20, 2023. Every day that passes without it, San Diego — and most notably Ocean Beach — continues to lose the recreational, cultural and economic benefit of this valued public resource.
Moving forward, if we are ever going to see a revitalized OB Pier again, the public needs to become re-engaged. And in that effort, the community of Ocean Beach needs to lead the charge once again.