Residents of Migrant Camp Can Stay : Housing: The new owner of the land east of Del Mar is willing to overlook an eviction notice if it can work out health and legal issues with the city of San Diego.

After an eviction notice was posted last month, several hundred residents of the Los Diablos migrant camp east of Del Mar have been given unofficial permission to stay put by the new owner of the land beneath their makeshift homes.

Meanwhile, a migrant-advocacy group this week obtained a $10,000 loan to design a prototype day-laborer camp for the land.

In June, after agreeing to sell his 79 acres in McGonigle Canyon near Black Mountain Road to a group of local investors, former landowner Bob Scarcia posted an eviction notice, giving the camp’s 300 residents until late July to vacate the premises.

The deal on the land is in escrow, according to Scarcia, who said Wednesday that the would-be new owners--the Del Mar Investment Group, which already owns 350 adjoining undeveloped acres--at first had concerns about the sprawling camp, most of which sits on his property.

“So I went down there with my son and a police officer and told them they had 60 days to clear off the property,” said the Carlsbad resident, who has allowed the camp to exist for more than two years as long as it met city of San Diego health standards. “And the people agreed to leave. They said I’d been fair to them all along, and they said they’d go.”

Now Dave Goodell, principal partner of the Del Mar Investment Group, has had a change of heart. He said Wednesday that he is willing to overlook the eviction notice and allow the camp to stay put until he meets with city health officials to work out several issues, including health codes and possible environmental damage.

Goodell said he also will allow a migrant advocacy group to begin a design study for the prototype farm- and day-labor camp that could one day be built on the property. But, for the time being, he is making no commitments to allow the project to be built.

On Monday, trustees overseeing the San Diego Housing Trust Fund approved a $10,000 loan to San Diego-based Esperanza International, which will begin plans on a camp, which group officials hope could be open in as little as six months.

Goodell said he has met with Esperanza about the designs for the new project, which they would like to build about a quarter of a mile from the Los Diablos camp, but says he is holding off on giving them the go-ahead until he meets with city officials on his legal responsibility for the project.

“There are a number of issues I need to get resolved with the city,” he said. “Things like the legal liability and the environmental impacts of having this migrant camp on the property.

“Frankly, I’m caught between a rock and a hard spot. But, until I get some answers from the city, I see no reason not to let the present camp stay where it is and let them go ahead with their study.”

He said the proposed camp project would consist of tent-like structures with removable floors, plumbing and dining facilities that could easily be dismantled and moved on short notice.

Scarcia, who has owned the McGonigle Canyon land with his brother and brother-in-law, has allowed the Los Diablos camp to exist as long as workers installed trash and sanitary facilities, which have been donated by local church groups.

“Actually, I’m pretty impressed with what the people have done there,” he said. “The place used to be a mess. Now it’s neat as a pin at that canyon.”

The Rev. Rafael Martinez, the executive director of the North County Chaplaincy, a migrant advocacy group that has helped maintain the Los Diablos camp, said the extension is good news to residents there.

“As far as we’re concerned, it’s business as usual at the camp,” he said. “From what I hear, I believe the people will be able to stay. So we’ll continue to go about our work there, bringing in fresh water, maintaining the Dumpsters and the toilets until we hear otherwise.”

However, Martinez said, camp residents--largely day laborers from Mexico and Central America who work in surrounding fields and suburban subdivisions--will eventually be forced to pack up and move once the new owners decide to develop the land.

Martinez is trying to transform a financially troubled Leucadia motel into affordable housing for camp residents when that day comes.

The Image Inn motel project has received a cold shoulder from nearby residents, and Martinez plans to meet with them Sunday to address their concerns.

“I’m impressed with Mr. Goodell,” Martinez said of the new owner of the Los Diablos Camp property. “He’s got a good attitude. But, in four or five years, when they move to develop that property, we’ll have to have someplace affordable to move these people--if not before.”

Goodell acknowledged that the eventual fate of the McGonigle Canyon migrants is by no means settled.

“The plans don’t call for development until after 1995,” he said. “Right now, the thinking is that these people can stay as long as they can keep the place clean, and I can clear things up with the city.

“But eventually, when it comes time to develop that land, they can move on.”