When the last 150 feet of Santa Cruz’s iconic wharf plummeted into the ocean Monday, city leaders were still grappling with damage it had sustained two years earlier during back-to-back winter storms.
With the construction equipment now at the bottom of the ocean, some local residents are asking why the city waited until the winter — when storms are common and the sea is rougher — to start a $4 million project to repair the popular pier.
The complicated answer is that the repairs were hamstrung by a common California problem: tension between protecting the environment and maintaining key infrastructure, a battle that has played out along the coast for years. Strict permitting requirements and lengthy litigation by environmental activists have stalled efforts to fortify the pier that could have helped it withstand the storm, current and former city officials say…