Crystal Cove visitor center idea goes to coastal panel

Paul Clinton

CRYSTAL COVE -- State parks officials are looking to get a green light

to install a visitors center and make other improvements in Crystal Cove

State Park when they head to the California Coastal Commission Tuesday.

California State Parks is spending $1.3 million to weatherproof and

repair the cottages, install sewage holding tanks and open up the

interpretive center.

Much of the work on the state’s interim plan for 46 historic cottages

in the park has already begun, but the state needs a coastal permit for

the visitors center.

“This is one more step we need to go through,” said Mike Tope, the

supervisor of the state’s Orange Coast District. “We’re really not going

to make any major changes.”

The state also plans to add signage, repair a snaking wood-plank

boardwalk and fix narrow dilapidated staircases.

Workers have already removed toxic lead paint from five cottages,

repainted them, repaired leaking roofs and added Lexan coatings to

windows.

A group of park rangers and lifeguards are set to move into the

cottages to help monitor the area. They are expected to begin living in

the buildings in December.

Laura Davick, one of the former residents of the cove, has been

providing her own monitoring plan for the cottages. The activist spends

several hours a day three to five days a week tracking the condition of

the cottages.

Davick said she is impressed with the way state officials have handled

the preservation of the cottages until a more permanent plan can be put

in place.

“They’ve done a very good job,” Davick said. “They’re moving forward

to stabilize the area.”

Heiress Joan Irvine Smith, who founded the Crystal Cove Conservancy

with Davick, said she was also supportive of the state’s work.

“They’re doing exactly what they’re supposed to do,” Smith said. “I’m

very pleased with their work down there and the maintenance the cottages

are receiving.”

FYI

What: California Coastal Commission meeting

When: 10 a.m. Tuesday

Where: Hyatt Regency, 711 S. Hope St., Los Angeles