Repairs at Goleta Beach Park following damage from the storms and high tides in January are still underway, as parts of the Santa Barbara County park have reopened and others remain closed.

Staff from the county’s Parks Division provided an update on the state of the park and repairs during Tuesday’s Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors meeting.

“The January storms did wreak havoc on Goleta Beach, including changes to the sand, the revetment and the Goleta pier,” said Jeff Lindgren, assistant director of the Parks Division. “So, following the storms we have had the pier assessed.”

Lindgren said that some pilings and crossmembers from the pier are missing and structural assessment of the pier should be completed soon, with an engineering report from Bengal Engineering by the end of March.

Capital projects manager Jill Van Wie added that they will be assessing whether the pier can reopen for foot traffic before repairs are complete, but those repairs should be completed by summer.

Van Wie said this assessment will be completed within the next few weeks, and if the pier can reopen, sections will be coned off and the pier may need to close again during construction.

“Hopefully within, I would say a year, year and a half aggressively, we should be able to restore a lot of the damage to Goleta Beach that’s happened over the last five or six years,” Van Wie said. “The restaurant did receive some substantial damage, so that might not open until the summertime as well.”

Beach nourishment operations are also underway at Goleta Beach, with trucks bringing in sand and sediment. Part of the park reopened in February, including parking, barbecue grills, beach access, and restrooms between the entrance and the pier.

“End of March we expect to have much of the parking lot and park open,” Lindgren told Noozhawk. “No definite timeline, but Public Works will continue bringing in sand and rock for another week, then the cleanup will begin. Pier damage may take some time, but we believe we may be able to open to pedestrian traffic.”

Lindgren added that the parking lot next to the restaurant building has reopened, and the Parks Division will reopen more of the parking lot and county park as it can.