Parks Panel OKs Fee for Camping at Rincon

A key panel endorsed a controversial revenue-raising plan on Monday to expand parking and charge fees for overnight campers who park their motor homes along an oceanfront stretch of the Rincon.

But the proposal, considered a godsend for the financially beleaguered county Parks Department, leaves many residents of nearby Solimar Beach cold. They say crowds, pollution and traffic fatalities, resulting from more vehicles and visitors crammed into a small area, will follow if the Board of Supervisors approves the plan.

“I have personally pronounced two people dead” after traffic collisions on old Pacific Coast Highway north of Ventura, said William L. Hart, a retired physician. “I can assure you more lives will be lost in that area. Is one more life worth the risk?” he asked the Parks Advisory Commission.

During the summer, recreational vehicles shoehorn into the two-mile roadway between Emma Wood State Beach and Faria Beach for an unimpaired view of the Pacific. Many spend the night, though they are not supposed to, and pay citations to the state.

But under a proposal advanced by the Parks Department, visitors would be charged $18 per night to use about 75 spaces during summer. Parking would be configured to accommodate more day users, too.

Parks Director John F. Johnston estimates the plan will bring in about $127,000 per year, money he considers critical to keeping parks open in the rest of the county.

The Parks Department is being asked to cut $475,000 to help the county government avoid a deficit in the coming fiscal year.

The advisory panel unanimously voted in favor of the plan. It goes to the Board of Supervisors today, and a final decision is expected later this month. If approved by the supervisors, the new fees could begin next month. In subsequent years, they would be in force from May 20 to Sept. 20.