El Morro campground: People will come

Though an agreement has been reached concerning the vandalism that happened at El Morro after residents there left the park, it doesn’t seem as though the bad feelings are gone. The attorney for the park’s community association and management company referred to the $60,000 settlement, reached last month, as “extortion.” “This vandalism was a red herring ? those units are going to be destroyed in place,” Gerald Klein also told the Daily Pilot, adding that the agreement was by no means an admission of guilt by the residents, who left the park on March 1.

So much for the closing of El Morro ever ending on a positive note. It is unfortunate it took the settlement ? under which the management company and community association will pay the state the $60,000, avoiding a trial and keeping the residents from having to foot any of the bill ? to bring the story to an end and pave the way for the state to build a campground on the beachfront land. But it also is par for the course.

At this point, we all can just be happy that the story appears finally to be over. Now, the state will begin working on building the campground and otherwise opening the park up to the public ? as it always should have been.

The state clearly can expect the public to show up, judging by response so far to the cottages at neighboring Crystal Cove. The reservations there for June through November sold out within hours. Reservations for December, which were offered last week, were the first not to sell out in a day.

The sooner that campground is available, the better.