White Rock’s promenade west of the white rock is scheduled to be reopened to the public by Feb. 9, according to a progress report on storm repairs delivered to council Monday.

But city engineer Jim Gordon noted that significant damage to East Beach from the Dec. 20 windstorm will delay the opening of that section of the promenade for several months more, and will also impact the appearance of the area.

“We removed 60 truck loads of logs from the beach,” he told council.

“The reason we did it is they make a mess of the beach, but they’re also a hazard.

“Some of those logs, during the storm, destroyed our picnic tables and went through the fence.”

Gordon described work remaining to be done on East Beach as “extensive,” with a completion date projected no sooner than April 30.

Amongst work still being done is raising the riprap – loose rock used to reinforce shorelines and other landscape features – in conjunction with completion of four pedestrian railway crossings started last year.

“The promenade will look a little different on East Beach,” he said.

“The grass strips will be a bit narrower, because we’ll be bringing the riprap up. We’re not really permitted to go out into the beach itself, so we’ve got to work from the shore.”

Gordon said the city is also working to try to get the communications tower at the end of the pier back in operation – damage to the facility has resulted in some disruptions in cellphone communications in the Marine Drive area since the storm.

“We’ve got a plan to put in a marine cable, but we’ve a few environmental issues to sort out with that,” he said.

“Part of that is a necessary consultation with Semiahmoo First Nation.”