EDITORIAL
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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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