$60,000 paid to state in trailer vandalism

The former tenants of the El Morro trailer park have agreed to pay the state a $60,000 settlement involving trash and vandalism discovered after residents vacated the park in March, state officials said Wednesday.

The May 18 settlement is the final hurdle in the legal snarl to convert the trailer park to a campground for public use. The state purchased the land in 1979, and residents were allowed to continue living there until a few months ago.

“This is obviously a much better solution than going to court and having to resolve the issues there,” State Parks District Supt. Richard Rozzelle said.

After residents left March 1, state officials discovered many of the trailers in the seaside park had been vandalized. Glass fixtures, shower doors and windows had been shattered, holes were punched in walls, and spray paint covered the interiors and exteriors of more than a dozen homes.

The state said the trash and vandalism violated a September 2005 settlement.

According to that agreement, residents could abandon their trailers if they left them free of trash. The state planned to salvage the abandoned trailers and use proceeds to fund work on the site.

Attorney Gerald Klein, who represented the community association and the trailer park management organization, said the former trailer park residents aren’t responsible for the vandalism and the settlement agreement is not an admission of guilt.

It was less expensive to settle than it was to fight it in court, Klein said, claiming that with 80 clients, it would have cost an estimated $100,000 in legal fees to oppose the state’s motions.

“It was simply a way to get this thing resolved so that no more legal fees would be spent,” Klein said. “I said this is what I’m going to cough up, and I’m not going to cough up another penny.”

The $60,000 settlement will be paid not by the residents but by the community association and El Morro Village Inc.

El Morro Village Inc., which managed the park, was not involved in the legal action. But Chief Executive Roberto Brutocao said he offered to pay a portion of the settlement because he didn’t want the former tenants to bear the burden.

“We agreed to shoulder a significant amount because we felt concerned for the community,” Brutocao said.

The state parks department has known all along that the seaside trailers would be destroyed, Klein said, adding that for the state to ask for settlement money is “extortion.”

“This vandalism was a red herring ? those units are going to be destroyed in place,” Klein said.

Except for a handful of tenants who need to complete the title transfer process, the state is ready to move forward with the campground project. The trailers on the land side of Coast Highway have been sold to a contractor who is salvaging them. The state will begin a salvage and recycle project on the seaside trailers within the next two weeks, Rozzelle said.dpt.01-elmorro-1-CPhotoInfoS01RHELH20060602iw8z7uknDON LEACH / COASTLINE PILOT(LA)Vandalism of several mobile homes at El Morro was discovered in March.