Jericho Pier reopens more than 3 years after storm decimated structure

Akshay Kulkarni · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 14, 2025 5:17 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

The Vancouver Park Board announced Friday that the 83-year-old woody pier astatine Jericho Beach has been reopened aft extended repair and restoration work.

Jericho Beach Park's pier had been heavy damaged by beardown winds and precocious tides successful November 2021 and January 2022, and was closed soon after.

In September 2023, parkland committee unit released a report recommending the removal of the pier, saying a rebuilt pier would hazard being damaged again, owed utmost clime events. It besides said that its removal would beryllium an accidental for reconciliation with section First Nations.

However, the elected parkland committee voted alternatively to behaviour a like-for-like repair connected the pier, which was archetypal built successful 1942.

At the time, the like-for-like repair was estimated to cost $1.7 million, but an security assertion from the harm would mean the metropolis lone had to wage $350,000.

The top fiscal obstruction for a like-for-like repair, according to the unit report, would beryllium the attraction costs of inspecting the pier each twelvemonth and, successful lawsuit of damage, repairing it. Staff estimated that would instrumentality betwixt $100,000 and $2.35 cardinal annually. 

"This vulnerability is forecast to summation successful airy of clime alteration effects," said the unit study astir expected oversea level emergence and an summation successful the frequence of tempest surges.

"The utile beingness of a like-for-like repair may very good beryllium shortened by these continued tempest events."

The pier at Jericho Beach, connected Vancouver's Westside, was a fashionable spot to food and instrumentality successful views implicit the Burrard Inlet and the downtown skyline, arsenic good arsenic a spot for marine rescue vessels to dock. 

Park committee commissioners cited its nostalgic value, arsenic a spot for families to stitchery implicit the years, successful approving the repair option, but said they were not ruling retired an eventual implicit rebuild of the pier.

The parkland committee said successful a Friday societal media station that a caller interval would beryllium installed astatine the pier by the extremity of June.

It said impermanent fencing would stay astir the pier this play owed to the Vancouver T100 triathlon satellite tour race happening astatine the beach.