Plan to Renovate Park Facilities Disturbs Morro Bay Tranquillity

City leaders are continuing to fight a $3.6-million state project to renovate the popular Morro Bay State Park campground and remove 76 trees, even as the campsite closed Monday for the yearlong renovation.

About 30 protesters, opposed to the tree cutting and park closure, gathered early Monday under foggy skies at the campground gate, carrying signs reading: “Keep Your Paws Off Those Saws” and “We Need Trees Not Bigger RVees.”

Meanwhile, city leaders have managed to postpone any tree removal by the California Department of Parks and Recreation for at least a few days by asking the California Coastal Commission to revoke its permit for the project.

“I am meeting with the Coastal Commission staff,” said Morro Bay City Atty. Rob Schultz. “We think the state is violating laws protecting both the Monarch butterfly and raptor habitat.”

State parks officials emphasize that they have followed all the rules involving habitat protection and historical conservation at the park, and that they need to begin the renovation. They say that the number of campsites in the park will remain the same, and that the size of recreational vehicles allowed in the park will remain unchanged.

But state officials are facing criticism from city leaders and many residents who take a proprietary approach to the 70-year-old campground built by crewmen from the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps.

With more than 800 trees, including thick groves at its edges, the park is a shady and popular playground for visitors from warmer climates. Morro Bay residents use it for hiking, viewing nature and as an acceptable place for visiting relatives to park for long stays.

The Morro Bay State Park campground has never undergone renovation. It still features large, spread-out campsites where people can pull up several cars, pitch tents and play Frisbee all within a single site.

Parks and Recreation spokesman Steve Capps said the department has made every effort to address the concerns of Morro Bay residents, even though it is a state agency serving all Californians.

Capps said that the state needs to remodel the Depression-era restrooms to serve disabled visitors and that it has funding for the project from the passage of bonds for state park projects. A minimum number of trees will be removed, he said, to align roads, create paved parking pads and improve restrooms.

The project originally called for removing 400 trees, then dropped to 96, and is now set for 76.

“The fact that we are taking out far fewer trees than we were planning certainly shows we are listening to them,” Capps said from Sacramento.

Capps said the Coastal Commission has informally asked his department to delay cutting the trees for several days to give the commission time to address the city’s latest concerns.

City officials allege that cutting trees now will hurt the Monarch butterflies, which winter through February in a grove of eucalyptus at the northwestern end of the campsite. They also accuse the state of deliberately withholding information relevant to the historical and endangered species impacts of the project.

The Morro Bay City Council is the local administrator for the area’s coastal plan, and it voted unanimously to oppose the campground renovation. But the parks department appealed that decision to the California Coastal Commission, which approved the permit.

State parks officials say they are avoiding any construction or tree cutting in the Monarch area, and they contend that other allegations are unfounded.

But the primary argument of protesters and city leaders is simple: They believe the park is beautiful now, and they fear it will be less so when the project is completed.

“I just think it’s perfect the way it is, so leave it alone,” said B. Clare, a Morro Bay resident who attended the protest.

And while local opponents angrily criticize state parks officials as a whole, they were polite and friendly Monday as local state park Supt. Greg Smith told them about the state’s plans while giving them a tour of the park.

While much of the attention in San Luis Obispo County has been about the lost trees, at least one protester was worried about the lost visitors. Juliana Epperly owns Crystal4u.com in Morro Bay. The campground has 108,000 visitors a year, and Epperly and other business owners are worried.

“This will have such a drastic effect on my business,” she said as she stood with other protesters. “I’m not here for the trees. I’m not here for anything else. I worry that the people in the RVs and the campers simply won’t be here.”