City Considers Declaring Dilapidated Ruby’s a Public Nuisance

By John Crandall With asbestos, bird droppings and vandalized bathrooms, the former Ruby’s Diner building at the end of the pier needs a lot of work, according to Seal Beach officials.

So much work, in fact, the city manager’s already approved the repairs on an emergency basis and will ask the City Council to officially declare it a local emergency and a nuisance Wednesday.

City staff will ask the Seal Beach leaders to OK $100,000 in funds to repair the former Ruby’s site.

In January, the city announced Ruby’s diner would be leaving the pier after 25 years, and many patrons said they were sad to see the local landmark vanish.

After Ruby’s closure, the city began an official search for a new restaurant to fill its spot.

The City is currently suing Ruby’s diner for more than $570,000 accusing the business of maintenance and renovations undone, according to court records.  

In contrast, Ruby’s Diner spokesman said the eatery worked well with the city and followed their contracts to the letter.

According to city staff report, after inspections Jan 8, staff found a number of problems including:

• Rusted electrical boxes and exposed wiring throughout the building ·        
• Cracked, exposed, uneven and deteriorating flooring through the kitchen and dining area
  
• A lot of bird droppings in the subflooring,
  
• Moisture and leaking pipes due to rusted and deteriorating plumbing
• Deteriorating and cracked floors that have exposed asbestos containing materials
  

Staff also discovered the bathrooms had been broken into and vandalized.

According to city staff, the condition of the building was a “public nuisance” and health risk.

City Manager Jill Ingram approved a number of repairs including removing the asbestos, repairing and replacing plumbing and water lines, and flooring. Staff selected JH General Contractors, Jarvis Restoration and Critter Gitter to conduct the repairs.

“The work has been ongoing for the past month or so,” said Sean Crumby, assistant city manager. “The city is in the process of looking for the appropriate tenant to move forward on the pier and, in that process, has discovered some work of an urgent nature that needed to happen a immediately.”

Crumby said he couldn’t comment on how the site got so dilapidated but said that the city did change property managers in December.  

"Our property managers had been doing the managing," Crumby added. "The city historically hadn’t been out there."

Without the repairs, access to the end of the pier for coastal uses such as fishing “would have to be terminated or severely restricted,” according to the city staff report. “Any delays would have adversely affected the users and visitors to the pier.”

The vote to ratify the repairs will take place Wednesday at 7 p.m. in City Council Chambers at 211 Eighth Street.

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