Rescuing paradise

Susan McCormack

As a child, lifetime Newport Beach resident Mary Blake and her two

brothers would come to Crystal Cove State Park to dive. The hills

surrounding the cove were green, the village leading to the water was

inviting and the ocean seemed clean.

Blake, now 67, has seen a change in the beach over the last five years or

so, she said. The hills above it are becoming bare, a footbridge was

washed out two winters ago and never repaired, and recently a yellowish

film covered the water, she said.

The cove -- which boasts a sign reading “Welcome to Crystal Cove, a slice

of paradise” -- is becoming a soppy, dirty dump, some fearful residents

and visitors say.

“Over the last few years, there has been a steady, uncontrolled flow” of

urban runoff, said George Hrebien, a Long Beach resident who brings his

7-year-old son to Crystal Cove.

At least 15 beach-goers agree with Hrebien and, in September, formed the

Alliance to Rescue Crystal Cove, a group dedicated to preventing runoff

from planned development projects from ruining the area. While other

groups, such as Stop Polluting Our Newport and the local Coastkeeper

chapter, fight for the preservation of the shores and bays, members of

the alliance say their group is the first dedicated specifically to this

mission in Crystal Cove.

In the early 1990s, a golf club was built on land east of Pacific Coast

Highway near Crystal Cove. Two other major projects are being built on

the land. Marriott is constructing a time-share resort and the Irvine Co.

is grading in preparation for an upscale shopping center and about 800

homes.

The alliance said that runoff from Los Trancos Creek, which leads to the

beach at Crystal Cove, has increased since the golf club was constructed.

And, members fear it will get worse because the state Water Resources

Control Board agreed last week to allow runoff from the the Irvine Co.

project to flow into the creek.

“With Mother Nature, we already had problems,” Hrebien said as she

pointed to the creek. “It used to be dry eight to nine months out of the

year. Now it’s permanently wet.”

One of the alliance’s first goals is to learn more about the

developments’ effects. Members are puzzled by sediment plumes that rush

through the creek, bringing muddy water through Crystal Cove’s village

and into the ocean. The latest one occurred last Wednesday.

They said they don’t know the cause of it or how the new development will

affect it, but the alliance plans to do everything it can to get answers

and stop the destructive flow.

“No one will have this beach if the runoff continues,” said Terry

Stephens, a Newport Beach resident involved with the alliance.

Since its inception, the alliance has had four meetings, created a small

base of operations at Crystal Cove, started planning fund-raisers and

staffed a table at a Balboa Pier event that helped the group add 60

people to its mailing list.

The alliance members’ next move is to voice their opinions at the

California Coastal Commission’s meeting in Oceanside scheduled for

Tuesday morning. The commission is expected to hear an appeal of a county

decision to grant the Irvine Co. a permit to further grade areas of

Newport Coast.

“They have an incredible battle,” said Bob Caustin, president of Defend

the Bay, which fights for the preservation and protection of Upper

Newport Bay.

Iryne Black, a Stop Polluting Our Newport member, said she believes

Crystal Cove is particularly worthy of preservation efforts.”The thing

about Crystal Cove is it is a state park,” she said. “The runoff issue is

an exceedingly important one. You can’t swim there when it’s

contaminated.”

And that is exactly what concerns Blake, the leader of the alliance, so

much: remembering what it was like to swim in the waters as a child.

“Will it remain this way for my children and for future generations to

come?” she asked. “I want us all to stop and take a look at what we’re

doing. Is this what the people want?”

Blake said that in the past week groups of schoolchildren, senior

citizens and artists have spent time at Crystal Cove. She said she

worries that the qualities that made the beach so close to paradise will

soon disappear.

“It will only be a memory we can read about or remember from the artists’

paintings,” she said.

For more information about the Alliance to Rescue Crystal Cove, call(949)

494-1968.