Plan hurts the public

Rookie Assemblyman Chuck DeVore may be looking for new ideas and

creative ways to represent his constituents, but his most recent

efforts have left us less than impressed.

DeVore, at the end of last week, announced that he and Republican

Assembly Leader Kevin McCarthy were sponsoring a pair of bills that,

if passed, would allow the residents of the El Morro Village trailer

park to stay in their beachside homes for the next 30 years.

DeVore might look like a hero to some as he seeks to stop the

state from evicting these residents from their homes.

For his part, the Assemblyman says he just wants to help the state

earn a little money by allowing the tenants to continue leasing this

state-owned canyon beach property.

Problem isDeVore’s and McCarthy’s plans won’t keep the state out

of the red, but they will keep you, the public, from enjoying this

rare ocean-front land.

These bills would hijack our public lands and in effect lock out

those very same residents -- the public taxpayers -- from enjoying

some of the most beautiful slices of the California coast for the

next 30 years and beyond.

Hopefully, though, the ill-conceived bills will die a quick death

in the state Legislature, since it’s our fairly educated guess that,

given a choice, the large majority of Orange County residents, versus

the few living at El Morro and their friends, would likely support

opening up these public lands instead of leaving it as a private

enclave of mobile homes.

El Morro is part of a huge land exchange years ago between the

state and the Irvine Co. that bequeathed Crystal Cove State Park and

its scenic beaches to the residents of this state.

Once the residents have vacated, a process that is now beginning,

the state Department of Parks and Recreation has plans to remove the

mobile homes and create a public park, complete with a 60-unit

campground and a 200-space parking lot. The changes would give the

public direct access to the beach and nature trails.

This fight is no different than the one earlier over the Crystal

Cove cottages, and the public deserves the same outcome -- access to

the beaches it pays to maintain.

DeVore’s stated goal is to save the state money, and he called the

park plans for the site, “fiscal madness,” even though Mike Tope, the

local superintendent of state parks, has confirmed that the $12

million to pay for the upgrades at El Morro has already been

earmarked in the state budget.

And let’s review the numbers on DeVore’s bills.

In one version, in exchange for a 30-year reprieve, the

mobile-home owners combined would pay “fair market value” for their

rents -- to the tune of $3.2 million a year, going to the state’s

park maintenance fund.

With 295 units sitting at El Morro, that amounts to an average of

$10,847 per unit, per year or $904 a month. We’d say that’s well

below fair market value for a beachside bungalow.

In another version, the current El Morro residents would need to

pony up a $50-million payment that would go toward the state’s $8

billion budget deficit. That comes up to an average of $1.7 million

each year for 30 years.

Practically giving away taxpayers’ land to people, who have known

for 10 years that their leases were ending, is also fiscal madness.

We urge Assemblyman DeVore to scrap this plan and instead fight to

ensure that the public taxpayers have unfettered access to their

state coastal lands. El Morro should be saved for all the residents

in this state, not just a select few.