Two doses of unimpressive from DeVore
If newly elected Assemblyman Chuck DeVore is looking for new ideas
and creative ways to represent his constituents, let’s just say his
most recent efforts have left us less than impressed.
DeVore, at the end of last week, announced that he and Republican
Assembly Leader Kevin McCarthy were sponsoring a pair of bills that,
if passed, would allow the residents of the El Morro Village trailer
park to stay in their beachside homes for the next 30 years.
DeVore might look like a hero to some as he stops the state from
evicting these residents from their homes.
Problem is, DeVore took the wrong side.
The residents of El Morro live on public lands owned by you, by
us, by every last resident in the state of California, including
DeVore.
These bills would hijack our public lands and in effect lock out
those very same residents -- the public taxpayers -- from enjoying
some of the most beautiful slices of the California coast for the
next 30 years and beyond.
Hopefully, though, the ill-conceived bills will die a quick death
in the state Legislature, since it’s our fairly educated guess that,
given a choice, the large majority of Orange County residents, versus
the few living at El Morro and their friends, would likely support
opening up these public lands instead of leaving it a private enclave
of mobile homes.
El Morro is part of a huge land exchange years ago between the
state and the Irvine Co. that bequeathed Crystal Cove State Park and
its scenic beaches to the residents of this state.
Once the residents have vacated, a process that is now beginning,
the state Department of Parks and Recreation has plans to remove the
mobile homes and create a public park, complete with a 60-unit
campground and a 200-space parking lot. The changes would give the
public direct access to the beach and nature trails.
This fight is no different than the one earlier over the Crystal
Cove cottages, and the public deserves the same outcome -- access to
the beaches it pays to maintain.
DeVore’s stated goal is to save the state money, and he called the
park plans for the site, “fiscal madness,” even though Mike Tope, the
local superintendent of state parks, has confirmed that the $12
million to pay for the upgrades at El Morro has already been
earmarked in the state budget.
And let’s review the numbers on DeVore’s bills.
In one version, in exchange for a 30-year reprieve, the
mobile-home owners combined would pay “fair market value” for their
rents -- to the tune of $3.2 million a year, going to the state’s
park maintenance fund.
With 295 units sitting at El Morro, that amounts to an average of
$10,847 per unit, per year or $904 a month. We’d say that’s well
below fair market value for a beachside bungalow.
In another version, the current El Morro residents would need to
pony up a $50-million payment that would go toward the state’s $8
billion budget deficit. That comes up to an average of $1.7 million
each year for 30 years.
Practically giving away taxpayers’ land to people, who have known
for 10 years that their leases were ending, is also fiscal madness.
We urge Assemblyman DeVore to scrap this plan and instead fight to
ensure that the public taxpayers have unfettered access to their
state coastal lands. El Morro should be saved for all the residents
in this state, not just a select few.
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