A rustic plan in store for cove

Paul Clinton

CRYSTAL COVE -- State planners are using a handful of rustic,

affordable cabins on the Marin County coastline as a model for the state

park here as they try to tie up $2.8 million in additional funding for

the park’s renovation.

Attorneys with both California State Parks and the California Coastal

Commission are hammering out the final details of an extension to a 1991

agreement that earmarked the funds for Crystal Cove.

The deal making comes as state parks officials are searching for funds

to restore the 46 cottages, which are listed on the National of Register

of Historic Places.

“We want to give [the funds] to state parks, and they want to take

[them],” commission spokeswoman Sarah Christie said.

As part of the 1991 agreement, the two agencies decided to use the

money to build a youth hostel on the inland part of the parkland.

The money was handed over to the commission in the 1980s by the

developer of the St. Regis Hotel in Dana Point. The money was $1.4

million at the time but has grown to $2.8 million with interest.

After the state pulled the plug on a luxury resort plan for the cove

in the spring, the hostel plans also fell by the wayside.

“I think we hoped all along that the money would stay with us,” state

parks spokesman Roy Stearns said. “We’re delighted the coastal commission

wants to continue that.”

The state Department of Finance has set a June deadline for the

commission to hand over the funds.

In reworking the grant, the commission has agreed to change the

initial provision that required the state parks agency to accommodate 132

guests with the money, Christie said.

The grant is an alternative to a proposal by Assemblyman John

Campbell, whose district includes the state park, to use rental revenue

from the trailers at El Morro to pay for the restoration. Campbell’s plan

has been rejected by Rusty Areias, director of state parks.

The decision to model the project on Steep Ravine, 10 rustic cabins in

Northern California, was greeted warmly by activists involved in the

issue.

The cabins, which are in Mt. Tamalpais State Park in Mill Valley, can

be rented for as little as $15 per day.

“It’s extremely modest in price,” activist Jeannette Merrilees said.

“It’s what I would call spartan. People come to see the natural beauty,

not shop in the gift shop or be educated.”

The cabins are also usually booked up eight months in advance.

“Within 15 minutes [of being available], they will be booked,” said

Marin District Supt. Ken Leigh. “They are truly crude cabins.”

State parks agency planners have begun planning a mixture of uses at

Crystal Cove, which would include an interpretive center, overnight

rentals and a scientific research center.

Heiress Joan Irvine Smith, whose family sold the cove to the state and

who has pushed for the project to include some element that educates the

public about the cove’s heritage, said she also approves of the Steep

Ravine model.

“It makes perfect sense,” Smith said. “You want to keep the character

of Crystal Cove as it is. We don’t want to upgrade it.”

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

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

paul.clinton@latimes.comf7 .