South County : Crystal Cove Park Plan on Coast Panel’s Agenda

A plan to expand facilities at the Crystal Cove State Park, including construction of a four-lane, permanent entrance from Pelican Hill Road, will be reviewed Thursday at a public hearing of the state Coastal Commission in San Francisco.

A master plan for the park, off Coast Highway just south of Newport Beach, was approved in May, 1982, and the commission is working out details.

Three paved parking lots for 60 cars each, a paved bicycle path and eight rest room stations are included in the plan. The project would complete most of the public day-use facilities along the coast, said Alan Tang, landscape architect for the state Parks and Recreation Department.

Liz Fuchs, a commission analyst, said commissioners are looking into concerns about ocean pollution and erosion of the cliffs that might result from the park improvements.

An environmentalist group, Friends of the Irvine Coast, has requested that drainage pipes be used to funnel parking-lot run-off into the sea off shore, and that the pipes be fitted with grease traps.

Terry Watt, consultant to the Friends, said the group is advocating “some kind of mechanism that will take the drainage, clean it up, and get it out to sea so there is no erosion. When you park a bunch of cars, they drip oil. And when it rains, all that would go into the ocean.”

The commission’s staff will propose three changes in the plan at Thursday’s hearing, Fuchs said.

One will be to narrow the entrance road from four lanes to three. A four-lane road “is not justified for the number of cars it will serve,” Fuchs said.

The staff also will urge reducing from 12 to 10 feet the width of the proposed bicycle and jogging trail and adding landscaping around the parking lots, Fuchs said.

Tang said he will argue that a 12-foot-wide trail would be more usable and comfortable. He said he also will support a four-lane road because it would “provide a smooth entrance coming into the park. Eventually, there will be a major intersection there,” Tang said.

The parks department is negotiating with the Laguna Beach and Irvine Ranch water districts for the park’s water supply, Tang said, and landscaping around the parking lots will include draught-tolerant plants.

Residents may attend the meeting, in Room 1194 of the State Building, or express their concerns by letter to California Coastal Commission, 631 Howard St., San Francisco, Calif. 94105.