Thumbnail photo by Amanda Dockter If it wasn’t already obvious that the Crescent City jetty isn’t the safest place to explore, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to double down on that message. But it won’t be through allowing local law enforcement to issue citations, City Manager Eric Wier said Tuesday. “There were some concerns with the implementation of citations with it being Army Corps property and [in the] sheriff’s jurisdiction,” he told Redwood Voice Community News. “The thought was let’s try to make it as safe as we can and then we’ll see what other avenues are needed.” The federal agency that owns the facility will install a second gate, update the signs that currently warn people of danger and add more signs on the rocks for those who try to access the jetty from the beach, Crescent City Public Works Director Dave Yeager told the City Council on Monday. The Army Corps also plans to install a 22-foot by 10-foot warning sign in thermoplastic on the jetty itself, Yeager said. “They’ll clean and pre-treat the existing concrete that’s out there and they’ll burn this thing down,” he said. “To walk out on the jetty you’ll literally be walking over a 10-foot band of red, so you can’t miss that. It’s just going to make people aware that you’re crossing into something [that’s] serious.” The Army Corps plans to start work on the jetty’s new signs and gate in late August or early September. Yeager said people will probably see what looks like construction workers on the jetty. Del Norte Search & Rescue will also be on hand to help the workers stay safe, Yeager said. An ad-hoc committee consisting of two Crescent City councilors, Del Norte County Board of Supervisors and representatives with the Crescent City Harbor District have been working with the Army Corps to increase safety at the jetty for about a year and a half. However, locals’ concern with people venturing out onto the jetty and putting themselves, and potentially anyone who has to rescue them, in harms way goes back years. In September 2021, a Los Angeles man died after being swept off of the jetty. About a month later a couple from Chico had to be rescued after waves knocked them from the facility and onto the rocks. In January 2024, a few days before he and Yeager were to meet with Army Corps representatives, Crescent City Police Chief Richard Griffin said he counseled three adults who had taken a young child as far out onto the jetty as you could easily get. Officers watched while they made it back to safety and counseled the adults on the danger they put themselves in, but Griffin told the City Council at its Jan. 16 meeting that there wasn’t much he could do. On Monday, Yeager said the new gate will be similar to the existing gate and will include the same danger signs. However, he said the gate will be installed about a third of the way out at the point “where you can no longer enter the jetty from the beach.” Upgrading the cable system that Search & Rescue clips into when they rescue someone is also part of the project, Yeager said. The U.S. Army Corps is paying “100 percent” for these improvements, Wier said. On Tuesday, he noted that while the second gate will make it obvious that people shouldn’t be on the jetty, equipment on the facility still needs to be maintained. “We’re looking for everybody’s help in trying to make it a safer community and certainly the jetty is not a safe place,” Wier said. “People get injured and killed every year which is why we’re taking steps and we’re looking for the community’s cooperation.”