Three Concerns About the State’s El Morro Plan

Re “Life at the Beach Available for a Song--With One Catch,” May 13:

Common sense indicates that the existing mobile home park and the state park’s plan to provide RV and camping units in the area can co-exist very well.

RV and camping space is available above the El Morro Village terrace area, and the state parks system can continue to benefit from the $1.2 million or more annual profits from El Morro Village rents.

Public access is not an issue. The public already has full access to the beach area with OCTA bus stops on both sides of Pacific Coast Highway at the El Morro entrances. The state parks provide plenty of public parking (including toilet facilities and showers) at Reef Point on the ocean side of PCH. These lots are rarely filled and there are additional lots with beach access north of Reef Point.

It should be noted that El Morro Village was developed by a private investment company and residential purchases were made many years before Crystal Cove State Park was created through a deal with the Irvine Co.

Let us work together for our mutual benefit.

Bob Flannes

Laguna Beach

It was with concern that I read your recent articles on El Morro Village, the mobile home park in north Laguna Beach. My concern grew when I read the letters to The Times on April 22 regarding returning the beach to the public. Yes, El Morro is a beautiful beach, but in none of these articles or letters was the fact given that a school, El Morro Elementary, is located directly next to El Morro Village. The school has been there for 40 years, long before the Irvine Co. transferred the mobile home park parcel to the state.

The thought of creating an overnight campground next to El Morro Elementary School is unthinkable. While opening the beach to the public may be a popular idea, the safety of the children attending school next door must be the priority. The El Morro Village has been a very good neighbor to the school. What type of neighbor would an overnight, transient-use RV and tent campground be? The vandalism and thefts that occur in these transient parks is reason enough not to create that type of environment so close to our children and our school.

The El Morro Elementary School PTA is opposing an overnight campground at El Morro Village. We hope that the state will find a more responsible use for this property.

Beth McCombs

Laguna Beach

Re “Paradise Leased,” April 15:

I am very surprised that the state is taking away yet another piece of history from our southern coastline. As it has always been, the El Morro Mobile Home Park and nearby Crystal Cove is the fantasy life. Everyone has the dream of having a quiet life on a serene beach with no worries. This is a part of every American and it will always be a dream that we will possess. If we take that dream away, our guiding fantasy will diminish and our minds will have an empty space where our ideal life used to be.

It seems as though our great country is being hypocritical. There are politicians who promise a preserved country, where the historic areas will be preserved and so will the natural resources. If we focus on preserving the coastline, then why do we destroy so much of it?

Fletcher McCue

Laguna Niguel