Few departing El Morro

Alicia Robinson and Lauren Vane

The message board inside the office of the El Morro Community Assn.

is crowded with notices from prospective buyers offering cash for

mobile homes. Beneath the board sits a stack of business cards from a

real estate agent.

Those notices may come in handy for residents at El Morro Village

mobile home park in scenic, seaside Crystal Cove. For a handful of

them, today was the deadline to leave their homes in the 75-year-old

community. About two dozen of the park’s nearly 300 residents agreed

to move out by today rather than continue to fight their eviction

from the park in court.

State officials are trying through legal channels to oust El Morro

residents, who moved into the community under leases that expired at

the end of 2004. Once the mobile home park is vacant, the state plans

to convert it to public parkland with camping areas and a parking

lot.

Some residents have already left, and others will relocate soon.

One man, who declined to give his name, was moving out Wednesday

after 30 years as a summer resident at El Morro. Now, he said, he’ll

go back to living at his permanent residence in Riverside.

Another resident, Ross St. Clair, has started packing, though he

won’t move until next week and for now plans simply to move to

another vacant unit in the community.

“The majority of the people obviously are here for the duration,

to just see it through,” St. Clair said.

Some of his neighbors are a case in point.

“We’re sticking around till the end,” said Eric Carlson, who has

lived at El Morro for the past four years and opted not to sign the

lease extension.

But no one knows when that end will be, and the uncertainty about

the mobile home park’s future has had some tangible effects. Bob

Mitchell, a two-year resident of El Morro, said people have slacked

off on maintenance, and some of the homes are now leaking and have

rodent problems.

“We don’t want to put money into our houses because we don’t know

what’s going to happen,” Mitchell said.

Those who remain at El Morro are awaiting the outcome of the court

battle with the state and watching the progress of two bills written

by Newport Beach Assemblyman Chuck DeVore that would extend their

leases and bank the rent money for the state.

DeVore’s bills are scheduled to be heard April 26 in the

Assembly’s Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.

As much as residents appear to have dug in their heels, they say

the state has too. They charge that the state’s plan for the park is

outdated -- it was written more than 20 years ago -- and that putting

a campground next to the school there is unsafe.

“Once their plan has been established, and it’s in place, it’s

very difficult to dissuade them from that plan,” said Bob Stevens, El

Morro’s on-site maintenance supervisor.

While they knew they’d have to leave eventually, residents said

they’ve been good stewards of the land. DeVore’s main argument for

letting them stay -- that it’s fiscally irresponsible for the state

to spend $12 million on the park when it has a $900-million backlog

of park maintenance elsewhere -- has struck home with many of them.

“That’s just the way I was raised,” Stevens said. “If you don’t

have it, don’t spend it.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at alicia.robinson@latimes

.com. LAUREN VANE may

be reached at (714) 966-4610

or by e-mail at lauren.vane @latimes.com.