A little clarity on cove’s future

Paul Clinton

CRYSTAL COVE -- Two scenarios won’t be happening at the state park.

Some or all of the cottages won’t be demolished and the former

residents won’t be allowed back into their homes.

This much, at least, was made clear by state planners during a meeting

about the future of the historic district.

Leaders of more than a dozen of the environmental groups who have

injected themselves into the debate attended the Thursday evening

meeting, which was not open to the public. It was held at the Orange

County Harbor Patrol headquarters in Corona del Mar.

“Our goal is to try to preserve the historic and natural values of the

district,” said Dave Keck, a senior landscape architect with California

State Parks. “This plan has to be flexible enough that it identifies

what’s doable, [and] what’s possible.”

Environmentalists each chipped in their own proposals for the 46

cottages in the district. On July 8, the residents of the cottages

vacated their homes after a protracted battle over the cove’s future.

One of those who attended, Village Laguna representative Jeannette

Merrillees, said the cottages should be revamped and rented out as

modestly priced accommodations for the public.

“The state has a responsibility to protect all of the resources in the

park and to make it open to the public,” Merrillees said.

Heiress Joan Irvine Smith, who has formed the Crystal Cove Conservancy

to potentially help fund restoration of the cottages, agreed that the

cottages should be affordable. But Smith also wants the state to set

aside several buildings for educational and scientific pursuits.

The cove has been designated as an Area of Special Biological

Significance, one of 35 protected ocean zones that are governed by

special rules imposed by the state’s 1972 Ocean Plan. The state purchased

the property from the Irvine Co. in 1979.

“If you can’t educate down there when you have droves of people,

they’ll destroy it,” Smith warned. “What you need is a cultural

conservancy.”

Keck and others also mounted slides on an overhead projector

suggesting various ways to divide the cottages for various uses,

including setting them aside for an interpretive center, park operations,

workshop or meeting and concession uses.

State planners have tentatively scheduled a public meeting for August

to discuss the proposals.

Other groups that attended Thursday’s informal session included the

Sierra Club, Friends of the Irvine Coast, former cove dweller and

activist Laura Davick, Stop Polluting Our Newport and the Surfrider

Foundation.

Nancy Gardner, the founder of Newport Beach’s Surfrider chapter, asked

if some of the cottages could be scrapped.

“We’d like to consider them all remaining,” Keck said. “Removing half

of them is not what we’re interested in doing. That’s not an option at

this point.”

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

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at paul.clinton@latimes.com.