Future bleak for Crystal Cove resort

Stefanie Frith

CRYSTAL COVE -- In what residents and community activists are calling

a giant step for the beach cottage community, park officials announced a

decision to end a contract for a $35 million hotel resort, Sierra Club

spokesperson Jeannette Merrilees said Saturday.

However, the state must still reach a final settlement to buy out the

60-year contract with developer Michael Freed, who is in Fiji and could

not reached for comment. State parks officials were also unavailable

Saturday.

“I called the park to confirm when I found out [the news] from sources

in Sacramento, and I spoke to Roy Stearns with the parkand he told me

that their lawyers were huddling and working out a settlement with

Freed’s lawyers,” Merrilees said.

Yet even if the contract is bought out, Merrilees said the cottages at

Crystal Cove could still be turned into a resort.

“Once it’s over, [the state parks department] can still consider

another proposal. They can accept another contract,” she said. “The

Sierra Club and other groups just think that the beach is a public place

and decisions for the public should not be made behind closed doors.”

Many residents declined to comment, stating that the parks department

decision would be talked about during a press conference at 10 a.m.

Tuesday in front of resident Doug Falzetti’s home.

In 1997, Freed received the right to restore the 46 historic cottages

in the cove and convert them into an environmental resort. Residents and

environmentalists, however, were against the idea, stating that despite

the fact that many of the buildings were falling apart, the charm of the

1920s-era cottages would be lost. They also said that the prices of the

resort, up to $375 per night, would keep the general public away.

For Crystal Cove tenants, who lease their cottages on a month-to-month

basis, the news that the parks department plans to buy out Freed’s

contract was a bright spot in a dark couple of weeks. Residents are

expecting to receive 30-day eviction notices on Thursday, making way for

a $10 million project to tear out old septic tanks, install sewer lines

and eliminate urban runoff. Out of 46 cottages, 40 are currently

occupied.

Deenie Newland, a Crystal Cove resident, said she is afraid of the

eviction, stating that she doesn’t know where she and her husband, Walt,

who is on a oxygen tank, will go.

“I am still hoping that they will let us stay,” she said, perched on a

bed in her cottage. “This is the last of this kind of colony. I know

people who started living in this area in tents. And now they want us to

leave. That’s a lot of money they are going to lose.”

Tenants pay $750 to $1300 per month for their cottages.

Laura Davick, spokesperson for the Alliance to Rescue Crystal Cove and

a longtime resident, said that the eviction may not even occur at this

point.

“I think that with the decision by [the state parks department] to end

the contract, that they will reevaluate the evictions,” she said. “But

the decision [to end the contract] was the right decision. It needs to be

turned back to the public.”

But Newland said that the state’s indecision on what to do with the

cottage colony has made it difficult to stay on top of the upkeep.

“No one knows anything. They tell us something new all the time,” she

said. “Because we don’t know how much longer we will all be here, we

can’t put money into our homes so they continue to deteriorate. Which is

what they want I think. Then they will have an excuse to tear them all

down when we are evicted.”

For now though, Newland and other residents said they will take things

day to day.

“I know artists who are coming down here more than ever because they

are sick at the thought that it might not be here any longer,” Newland

said, watching her husband enjoy the view from their deck. “It’s all so

sad. It’s the most amazing and beautiful, historic little area you will

ever see.”