Irvine heiress steps in to protect Crystal Cove

Paul Clinton

CRYSTAL COVE -- Standing on land her family once owned, Joan Irvine

Smith lent her well-known name to the fight to stop a luxury resort at

Crystal Cove.

The heiress, decked out in a straw cowboy hat and neck scarf, joined

environmentalists at a press conference Tuesday.

“I have some definite concerns about this resort, if it is allowed to

go through,” Smith said. “I would love to see it kept as it is, the

spirit of what it is.”

The 67-year-old Smith, the great-granddaughter of Irvine Co. founder

James Irvine, comes to an issue that has moved to the front burner this

week with the state Department of Parks and Recreation’s informational

meeting set for Thursday. At that time, state officials are expected to

join resort developer Michael Freed to brief the public about their plan.

Freed, representing San Francisco-based Passport Resorts, has said he

would like to renovate Crystal Cove’s 46 cottages -- placed on the

National Registry of Historic Places in 1979 -- and add amenities such as

restaurants and shops.

At the shoreline press briefing, members of the Alliance to Rescue

Crystal Cove, League of Coastal Protection and other groups opposed to

Freed’s resort also spoke out against the resort and Freed’s 60-year

concessionaire contract with the state.

Laura Davick, who founded the alliance, also unveiled plans to form a

nonprofit conservancy to develop and manage an alternative project at

Crystal Cove.

Few details of that project emerged at the briefing.

At the event, Smith promised to participate in the group’s

fund-raising efforts. That Herculean labor will begin after the

conservancy is formed. The group has said it would raise enough money to

restore the beachfront cottages, which Freed has said could cost about

$30 million.

Emphasizing her deep family roots at Crystal Cove, Smith said she was

excited to join arms with others fighting Freed’s resort.

In 1876, Smith’s great-grandfather James Irvine established the

sprawling Irvine Ranch, which included the three-mile Crystal Cove

coastline.

In 1979, the Irvine Co. sold that land to the state Department of

Parks and Recreation for $32.6 million, a sale that would eventually

encompass 2,398 acres, with Moro Ridge.

Smith said she fought the land sale as early as 1973 with a lawsuit,

one of many aimed at halting a family business decision.

As part of a 1991 court settlement, Smith and her mother, Athalie

Clarke, were each awarded $127.9 million after eight years of legal

wrangling with Irvine Co. Chairman Donald Bren. The two had tried to stop

Bren’s bid to buy the company.

FYI

WHAT: Public meeting by the state Parks and Recreation Department on

Crystal Cove development plans

WHEN: 7 p.m. Thursday

WHERE: Lincoln Elementary School, 3101 Pacific View Drive, Corona del

Mar