The vision and the tumult at Crystal Cove

Andrew Edwards

Twenty-five years ago, the state opened its coffers and paid $32.6

million for a prime stretch of coastal real estate that became

Crystal Cove State Park.

“Somebody had a nice piece of vision, and thank God they did,”

park visitor Guinevare Breeding said.

Breeding, who lives in San Clemente, compared the state’s buy with

the Louisiana Purchase. She was one of at least 100 people who

gathered at the seaside park Saturday to celebrate the park’s silver

anniversary.

The state’s 1979 purchase of the land from the Irvine Co. set the

stage for the current debate about what to do with residences that

had been built at the park. Residents of El Morro Village, a

mobile-home community on the parkland, are currently battling parks

department officials to keep their leases. Parks officials want to

replace the mobile homes with a campground.

Saturday’s agenda centered on a tour through the park’s historic

cottages. About half of the park’s 46 cottages are in the midst of a

renovation project intended to transform the former residences into

vacation rentals and interpretive facilities.

Renovations are still in the first phase, Crystal Cove Alliance

founder Laura Davick said. The $12-million renovation of 22 cottages

is slated to be finished around September. Funding is not immediately

available to fix up the remaining 24 cottages.

Davick’s group has teamed up with the California Department of

Parks and Recreation for the cottage project and is in the process of

raising $2.1 million to build a Park and Marine Research Center, an

Outdoor Educational Commons and a Cultural Center. So far, the

alliance has received $650,000 in pledges and donations.

The small, almost rustic cottages near the shore and the park’s

open-space areas are a contrast to the homes built on the hills

overlooking the park.

“Eventually Crystal Cove State Park will be an island among the

urbanization of our coastline,” park superintendent Ken Kramer told

tour guests. “This is our last real gem that will remain open space

for public use.”

Kramer was joined during the tour by former Crystal Cove lifeguard

Mike Fenderson. A Laguna Beach resident, Fenderson watched cove

swimmers from 1957 to 1959. He first came to Crystal Cove with his

parents in 1947, when his family spent the summer in a tent. Until

1962, Fenderson says he spent every summer day at Crystal Cove.

The cottages will acquire a vintage aura when the project is

completed, Fenderson said.

“The goal is to retain the historical character so it will still

look as it did in the 1940s,” he said.

The cottages were in various stages of renovation Saturday. Tour

guests could not enter some of them because of safety concerns. At

the end of the tour, visitors could walk through one cottage that was

near completion. Wood paneling and exposed pipes lent an

old-fashioned feel to the building, but not everything was old. The

microwave in the kitchen was clearly a modern touch.

“I think it’s really nice that they are developing it for the

people and leaving it in a rustic mode but cleaning the bathrooms and

making it safe,” said tour guest Marge Romberg of Newport Beach.

During the park’s 25-year history, 10 million to 15 million people

have visited the park, Kramer said.

The park’s past -- and present -- have been punctuated by periods

of controversy. In 2001, the state evicted Crystal Cove residents

from their cottages to begin the process of opening the historic

district to public use.

Presently, the parks department and mobile-home residents at El

Morro Village are at odds over the state’s plan to evict mobile-home

residents to make room for a campground.

“There has never been a lack of emotion and passion at Crystal

Cove,” Kramer said.

El Morro residents’ leases expired at the end of 2004.

Newport Beach Assemblyman Chuck DeVore has proposed two bills,

which are scheduled to be heard in committee April 26, that would

extend residents’ leases.

Parks officials and mobile-home residents are also awaiting court

rulings on the state’s efforts to evict residents. In January, parks

department employees filed motions in Orange County Superior Court to

begin the eviction process.

“We’re still struggling,” El Morro Community Assn. president

Jeanette Miller said. “We’re just waiting.”

* ANDREW EDWARDS covers business and the environment. He can be

reached at (714) 966-4624 or by e-mail at andrew.edwards

@latimes.com.