Environmentalists remain set against resort plan

Paul Clinton

CRYSTAL COVE -- Irked by developer Mike Freed’s pledge to push ahead

with an increasingly unpopular resort for Crystal Cove State Park,

environmentalists are vowing to continue fighting.

On Thursday, Freed blamed opposition to his $35-million luxury resort

on a “vocal minority of people who have been told inaccuracies.”

Freed also vowed to continue efforts to shepherd his project through

the state approval process.

Freed’s comments stunned environmentalists who showed up, along with

hundreds of others, to a Jan. 18 state informational meeting to voice

their disapproval of the resort.

“If he thinks that was just a vocal minority, we’ve got to rent the

Bren Center,” Sierra Club spokeswoman Jeannette Merrilees said Friday. “I

think it’s unrealistic [for Freed to proceed], because he has no

support.”

While Freed brushed off the public outcry, state parks officials have

begun to reassess the project. Department officials under former Gov.

Pete Wilson signed a 60-year concessionaire’s contract with Freed in

1997.

The state bought Crystal Cove from the Irvine Co. in 1979 for $32.6

million.

“We have been given a huge amount of input from the public,” state

parks spokesman Roy Stearns said. “It’s a huge volume of stuff to look

through to see where we go from here.”

One option under consideration is a buyout of Freed’s deal. Freed has

said he has spent $2 million so far on design costs for the resort, which

would offer $375-per-night room rates.

A coalition of environmental groups have lined up to oppose the

project. Orange County CoastKeeper director Garry Brown said the San

Francisco developer has underestimated the resistance to his project.

“If he wants a battle, then there will be one,” Brown said. “There is

uniform opposition.”