After almost two years of being a community without pier, West Vancouver's Ambleside and Dundarave’s waterfront docks are once again open to the public.
Both piers had been closed since they were walloped in a January 2022 storm and king tide that left them unsafe. Following extensive repair work over the summer, the Dundarave and Ambleside piers reopened on Oct. 17 and 30, respectively.
“We’re super excited about that. It’s been a long time coming but we’re very happy that they are open and the community has been eager to see them,” said Natalie Roizman, District of West Vancouver spokesperson.
Three of the Ambleside Pier’s wood pilings were heavily damaged or knocked out in the storm. They have since been rebuilt, and the decking and parts of the railing have been replaced. A water supply line that people use for cleaning fish is still not yet operational.
The Dundarave Pier (which is actually a jetty and not a pier because it is built on top of fill, not pilings) had its concrete and asphalt slab smashed and partially washed out during the storm. That too has been redone and the district is in the process of replacing the old wooden railings with metal cabling.
Roizman said on Thursday the municipality hasn’t had any feedback from the public since the gates came down, but there have been a lot of inquiries since the work began in June.
“People love our piers, right? Especially people who come to fish and crab off the Ambelside Pier and people who just like to enjoy the view from the Dundarave Pier,” she said.
The total cost of the repair work was $615,000, most of which was covered by insurance, although the municipality bore the cost of the new Dundarave railings as they were due for replacement before the storm, Roizman said.
West Vancouver’s waterfront piers aren’t the only ones to have faced storm damage in recent years.
White Rock’s famous pier was severed by unmoored sailboats during a 2018 windstorm. It reopened in 2019 following a $4.3 million repair job.
The Vancouver Park Board voted in September to repair the Jericho Pier, which was also damaged in the January 2022 storms, although staff recommended it be removed, in part because the aging structure would be at risk of future damage as climate change fuels more violent storms.
Roizman said district staff were cognizant of the risk of future damage to the local piers, but she said there was no consideration to removing either pier.
“The piers were still in good enough condition,” she said. “I think all bets are off with the weather these days.”
