Campbell: El Morro rent could pay for cove cottages

Paul Clinton

CRYSTAL COVE -- To pay for the costly rehabilitation of the historic

district, Assemblyman John Campbell (R-Irvine) wants to use rental

revenue from the trailer-park residents at El Morro Beach.

Under Campbell’s proposal, the Department of State Parks would raise

the rent of the residents of the 294 mobile homes instead of evicting

them in December of 2004.

Both the community at El Morro and the 46 historic cottages further

north on the coastline are part of Crystal Cove State Park.

“The idea that one part of the park could raise revenue for the other

part of the park to achieve an overall public good just makes sense,”

Campbell said. “If there is public support for this, I think we can get

it done.”

State Parks officials have said they will open El Morro to the public

after the residents’ leases run out in three years.

“We do not intend to have them stay,” Parks spokesman Roy Stearns

said. “We have a huge demand for campsites. This will give us more of

those.”

The state plans to install 60 campsites for RVs or tents, picnic areas

and parking lots, according to the 1982 General Plan for the park.

With a softening economy, Gov. Gray Davis has warned of looming budget

cuts in all departments, an announcement that has called into question

how the state will pay for plans for the 46 cottages in the historic

district.

The historic district was placed on the National Register of Historic

Places in 1979 as a rare example of vernacular beachfront architecture.

The former residents of those cottages left their homes on July 8, after

receiving eviction notices earlier this year.

Stearns said it would take between $12 and $20 million to restore the

cottages.

In order for Campbell’s plan to go through, the freshman legislator

would need to introduce a bill to change state law. The state cannot

raise the El Morro residents’ rent more than the latest increase in the

Consumer Price Index, Stearns said.

Right now, the state nets about $840,000 per year from El Morro.

The state has also pledged to open up El Morro to the public.

“It’s public land,” Stearns said. “State Parks should not be a renter

to people living on public land.”

But Campbell is less than enamored with the state’s plan. Encouraging

RV users from out of town to use El Morro would give short shrift to

locals, Campbell said.

“That will not benefit local people,” Campbell said. “If we can

restore those [46] historic houses, that will be something the entire

community of Orange County could make use of.”

-- Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

[email protected] .