Crystal Cove Hearing Delayed

Because of a clerical error, the state parks department has postponed a California Coastal Commission hearing on plans to demolish and remove 295 mobile homes from Crystal Cove State Park.

About 1,000 letters of notification for a hearing Thursday in San Pedro were sent to residents, tenants and property owners surrounding the park, between Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach. But because the addresses for the trailers had been changed, about 20% of the letters were returned, said Rich Rozzelle, assistant superintendent at the state park.

Coastal Commission staff has recommended removal of the trailers to make way for a day-use and overnight campground in Crystal Cove State Park. Leases for the mobile homes, on the beach along the bluffs and on the edge of El Moro Canyon across Pacific Coast Highway, expire Dec. 31.

To ensure that the public could participate in the process, Rozzelle said, “we decided to continue the hearing to October, the next Southern California venue for the Coastal Commission.”

That meeting will be Oct. 13-15 in San Diego.

He added, however, that the action “does not delay the project, it does not jeopardize the funding and it is not a setback at all.”

The California Department of Parks and Recreation, which had planned separate hearings -- one on the demolition and removal of the trailers, and another on the plan for park improvements such as campground parking, restrooms and creek restoration -- will combine them, Rozzelle said.