CAPITOLA >> Now that the Capitola Wharf is repaired and has been back in action for almost a year, city leaders are pressing ahead with a vision for the local landmark’s long-term usage.

Before taking a month-long summer recess, the Capitola City Council asked its staff last month to begin final development of a Wharf Master Plan with the goal of submitting it for final approval sometime this fall.

The council took advice on the best path forward from hired consultant Fuse Architects, which put together seven options for wharf utilization on a more permanent basis, threw those possibilities in a survey and solicited feedback from city residents and the broader community.

The survey was taken by 1,067 total participants, about 450, or 42% of whom said they envisioned the 855-foot-long structure as eventually being home to permanent features including a restaurant, fishing concession and new bathroom facility. That vision is similar to what was seen on the wharf before a series of heavy storms in late 2023 and early 2024 irreparably wrecked the Wharf House Restaurant and the Boat and Bait Shop.

This design preference was a recurring theme throughout the city’s nearly year-long public outreach and engagement effort, said Capitola Community Development Director Katie Herlihy at the council’s June 26 meeting.

“Overwhelmingly, we heard: keep fishing on the wharf,” remarked Herlihy. “Second, (we heard) broad support for a second bathroom and also the lifeguard station.”Survey and public engagement efforts in May also suggest a flexible market space would be a welcome addition, as that feature plus a permanent fishing concession detailed in Option 6 was the second-highest vote-getter in the survey with about 219 votes, or 20.6% support. Other possibilities that included an open space with mobile vendors or fishing concessions with mobile vendors received a modest 13% and 12.4%, respectively.

Ultimately, the council approved a hybrid scenario drawn up by Fuse and city staff that melds together Options 6 and 7 to give the community and visiting public the best of both worlds, with permanent restaurant and fishing facilities and a pliant space for market popups.

“We feel that (Options) 6 and 7 — the hybrid of the two — will provide more flexibility and will be an economically feasible approach that is going to allow for public and private partnerships (and) will be the best chance for us to move forward with these permanent structures,” said Dan Townsend, a partner at Fuse.

Exciting as the plans were, there were some areas of concern that surfaced during the public meetings. Many feared too many mobile vendors on the coastal structure could oversaturate the regional market and cause undue competition with businesses in Capitola Village. A pilot system with one or two vendors was preferred, according to Herlihy.

Another significant worry was that, despite major repairs and infrastructure upgrades, the wharf remains vulnerable to strong storm systems that will completely upend long-term viability. Councilmember Gerry Jensen said he shared many of these concerns, but his mind was put at ease after hearing from structural engineers during a community meeting at New Brighton Middle School in May.

“It’s always a concern and it’s always going to be a risk,” said Jensen. “But I thought a lot of people, as I read the crowd that night, came in with those concerns and it seemed like those comments were put to rest a little bit.”

Townsend, paraphrasing the engineers at Moffatt and Nichol who also led the most recent wharf resiliency construction effort, said the existing condition at the wharf are very good and that there’s more concern about the total load of people as opposed to the load from structures or vendors.

Another big hangup for community members was the cost. The first five setup options that included minimal, if any, permanent structures held the possibility of being paid for through grant opportunities.

However, permanent structures that include a commercial kitchen range in price from $5.2 million to $6.2 million, according to the agenda report. This setup likely will require a public-private partnership where a private investor pays for the commercial structure and leases the space from the city, which owns the wharf.

Councilmember Susan Westman confirmed with city staff that the hybrid project could be built in phases and she also suggested that some sort of marking could be put down on the deck of the wharf to give visitors an idea of what the footprint of the permanent spaces would look and feel like.

Final costs for the hybrid plan will be included in the final Wharf Master Plan, which city staff now plan to bring to the council this fall for final adoption.

“I think we need to move quickly on the restrooms, maybe the public safety lifeguard tower,” said Mayor Joe Clarke. “And as we go in stages, try to do things as quickly as we can and keep it moving.”