State May Pay $2 Million for Crystal Cove Buyout

The controversy over Crystal Cove State Park took a step toward resolution when Gov. Gray Davis announced Friday that the state may pay $2 million to buy out a developer’s contract for a resort there. He also suggested more money might be found to fix sewage and infrastructure problems.

“This truly is a triple win,” Davis said in a statement. “It is responsive to the local community, expands environmental protection and reimburses the developer for costs incurred up to now.”

The seven-member California Coastal Conservancy board must approve the deal, but state officials said passage seemed certain.

“The State Coastal Conservancy is excited about helping secure the future of this outstanding public resource,” Bill Ahern, executive director of the conservancy said in a news release.

Meanwhile, Irvine Ranch heiress Joan Irvine Smith said Friday that she is establishing a private conservancy to act as a “safety net” in case the state deal doesn’t work out. And if it does, she suggested the money could go toward helping restore the 1920s era beach cottages and for environmental and educational activities at Crystal Cove.

Smith said she didn’t know how much money her Crystal Cove Conservancy would need, but that the Joan Irvine Smith and Athalie R. Clarke Foundation would provide the initial funding.

In addition, the state agreed to postpone by three weeks the evictions of tenants in the 46 cottages in the park.

Roy Stearns, deputy director of communications for the state Department of Parks and Recreation, said the postponement will provide time for the two sides to negotiate ways to protect the cottages from further deterioration once they are vacated.

He said the negotiations “absolutely” will not include allowing the tenants to continue living at Crystal Cove. Deborah Rosenthal, an attorney hired by the Crystal Cove Residents Assn., said the group’s lawsuit to stop the evictions will be put on hold. The residents sued this week, saying parks officials had violated the law by evicting them without a plan for the cottages or their maintenance.

State officials last week announced plans to halt development of a private resort that had been planned at Crystal Cove. Park officials expect it could cost them as much as $2 million to buy back the 60-year lease the state signed with Crystal Code Preservation Partners in 1997.

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The plan, which created controversy from the beginning, would have transformed the ramshackle houses into $375-a-night cabins.

The cottages are listed in the National Register of Historic Places as representative of beach colony dwellings. Many residents are members of families that have rented the cottages for decades. Most of them are vacation homes.

Parks officials have been trying to move out the tenants since 1979, when the Irvine Corp. sold the land to the state. But the residents have always found a way to fight off the evictions.

Besides funding to buy back the resort contract, the state Resources Agency is exploring whether it can use state bonds to pay the $10 million cost of installing sewer lines to replace septic tanks that are leaking into the ocean.

Once the tenants are gone, Stearns said, the parks department will begin inspecting the gas, sewer and water systems and checking for hazardous materials.

He said some contracts for the work would be ready to be signed in March and the work could begin later in the month, or in April.

Dick Wayman, spokesman for the Coastal Conservancy, said the state agency received a letter Thursday from state parks director Rusty Areias asking if it could provide the $2 million.

The conservancy helps to provide better public access to the coast, along with protecting wildlife habitat, building trails and restoring wetlands.

The conservancy board is expected to vote on the proposal at its March 22 meeting. The meeting may take place in Laguna Beach, near Crystal Cove.

Paul Morabito, a conservancy board member who lives in Laguna Beach, suggested that the $10 million for infrastructure could come from funds the Water Resources Control Board has received from clean water bond money.

He said that with the resort plan seemingly off the table, the public could decide what will happen to the cottages.

Smith said her tax attorney was drawing up papers to establish her conservancy. Her ideas include a hostel, an arts and environmental center, and even a place where law enforcement officers could be taught how to protect the environment.

She called the Coastal Conservancy plan “marvelous, I couldn’t be more pleased.”