Give El Morro Back to the Taxpayers

There is much disinformation being circulated regarding the transformation of the El Morro trailer park (between El Morro Elementary School and Laguna Beach) into a state campground.

Attempts to extend lease agreements between tenants and the state past the 2004 deadline are a ploy to keep the lucrative cash cow the tenants have enjoyed for the last 25 years. The reality is the majority of these units belong to absentee owners, trusts and corporations who lease or sublease their units at weekly rates of $1,000 or more. Obviously, $4,000 a month is a hefty return on a $1,000 lease.

The suggestion that evicting the tenants will cost the taxpayers money is just another diversion.

The scare tactics being used to imply that putting a “transient” campground next to an elementary school is inviting disaster is ludicrous. Those transients are the same people who have been coming down to the beach, renting the trailers for a week or two so their children can have the coastal experience. The campground will only force them to bring their own sleeping quarters.

Having a state campground like the 162-unit park in San Clemente right next to Concordia Elementary School has been nothing but a positive experience. Park rangers conduct classes and demonstrations at the school, and the school sends classes to the park for on-site observations and hands-on activities--a positive situation for all concerned.

Finally, all property owners have the right to develop their property any way they want, within local and state ordinances. Tenants of El Morro trailer park would be the first to cry foul and fight with every legal remedy if a tenant refused to vacate his or her property and blocked their right to develop it.

We, the taxpayers and owners of Crystal Cove State Park want our property. We have plans for the way it should be used so all the public has access to one of California’s most unique coastal areas.

We have been waiting for more than 25 years to get access to this property. We have waited long enough. The time is now.

Berenice Maltby

Corona del Mar