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EDITORIAL

Complaints about a proposed resort at Crystal Cove State Park boiled

down to a few hard points.

Opponents said the luxury hotel’s $375-a-night room rates were a

terrible fit for the cove’s rustic feel.

They worried the cove’s historic cottages would fall into disrepair if

the buildings were not the focus of attention and care.

And, most of all, they attacked the state for striking what they

called a secret deal with developer Michael Freed, who proposed the

$35-million resort.

That deal is now all but dead, and the state is working on both

figuring out how to buy Freed out of his contract and deciding what to do

with the cove.

At this point, the state has the opportunity to remedy this list of

extremely legitimate concerns, beginning first and foremost by including

the public early and often in discussions about the cove’s future.

The California Coastal Conservancy is set to consider using state

park-bond money for the buyout at its March 22 meeting. Notices about

public meetings on the cove are scheduled to go out in April. All of

these meetings need to be publicized to every extent possible.

When such hearings are well advertised, they turn into nights like

Jan. 18, when some 600 people crammed into an auditorium at Lincoln

Elementary School to hear about Freed’s now-defunct plans. The state and

any developer who may become involved need to understand that there is

that much concern about what happens at Crystal Cove.

But the weight of keeping discussions about the cove’s future public

does not rest solely on the state’s shoulders. Already, a group of

environmentalists -- including heiress Joan Irvine Smith, Alliance to

Rescue Crystal Cove founder Laura Davick and members of the Sierra Club

-- has met to work out ideas.

Their discussions have been behind closed doors. They need to make

sure they don’t make the same mistake that they accused state officials

of making in the Freed deal.

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