OP OneWorld: No Easy Way at El Morro

Richard Wolcott, CEO of Volcom. 39 years old, and has been surfing El Morro for 25 years. He's rented a 1000 square foot nice trailer on the bluff overlooking El Morro for ten years.

From the Water it's Pretty Too Photo: Surfermag.com BBoard

On moving to El Morro:

One day driving I was driving from Laguna, and I thought, you know, I've been living at 54th street for a number of years. El Morro was right there. I turned in and haven't left. It's an incredibly spiritual place. An old Indian healing ground and my healing ground. I've done a lot of traveling with work, and there's no place I'd rather be.

On the people and community there:

Just to the North is the Big Scrape for the million dollar homes of Newport Coast Photo: Californiacoastline.org

There are a lot of older people. Older couples and families with kids just trying to get by. It's a total misconception that it's only rich people. A lot of the trailers have been handed down through generations. It's affordable living.

The people who live there are still very hopeful. They're fighters and they're not going to give up. I'm not giving up.

There's a real sense of community there. Everybody gets together and has barbecues and functions. In other parts of North Laguna, there are all these gated communities in the middle of a beautiful environment. But what's attracted people here is that people can still enjoy a beautiful environment but people are comfortable with who they are. There are no show-offs. The place goes back 80 years. You can say hello to your neighbor and get together to watch the sunset. It's a great place that's in people's hearts.

We're living in a society that can't leave things alone. It's always, let's tear this down and let's build that. We're taking away the nostalgia and the history. The other part of this argument is financial. If you take a step back, we've got this area that's self sufficient and takes care of itself. Why cut off a huge revenue stream? Look at Crystal Cove, they took that over five years ago and they don't have the money or the manpower to do what they said they were going to do there with the resort. Why don't they use our money to their advantage there?

On the argument that this is a state park and they should leave gracefully:

You've got tons of beach access and three miles of beach. We take up one percent of the land in Crystal Cove. We even offer a beach tram in the summer that we can use to take tourists to the beach.

On the welcome sign:

Next to El Morro is Irvine Cove. Off Limits to You and Me. Photo: Californiacoastline.org

We put up a sign that said, "Welcome, Open to the Public". But the department of parks and recreation made us take it down. Maybe they feel it was lessening their case to get us out of the park.

Ken Kramer, Superintendent of Crystal Cove State Park.

On history:

You know, El Morro was a campground at first in the early 30's. It was called Tyrone's Camp. The land was always owned by the Irvine company and it remained that way until they sold the land to the people of California in 1979.

Once El Morro Was Called Tyrone's Camp - No Trailers Back Then

On the lease, and El Morro residents welcoming the public:

There is a master tennant lease between State Parks and the management company. The terms and conditions of that lease agreement was for a specific purpose of operating and managing a private mobile home park. That's far from a public project that complies with all the state requirements for public access. The Parks Department as a public entity must comply with access in terms of traffic engineering, restrooms, sewer system, handicap access, lighting and public safety. All those are components of the project that we are going to implement as opposed to a few spaces in El Morro Village that are shared. There is no mechanism by which we can allow public access and parking because we haven't done necessary improvements to the site. There is no mechanism or policy that allows us to have the private mobile home park operate as a public facility Even more importantly, that type of approach is absolutely contrary to the purpose of having a public park. The park was purchased in 1979 with the purpose of protecting open space and providing public access.

Another View of Irvine Cove's Private Beaches Photo: Californiacoastline.org

The real good faith effort that needs to be demonstrated is for the residents to comply with their lease. The public process has spoken.

On the sewage system: The current sewage system is specifically sized for the El Morro trailer park. It's antiquated, it's failing and does not meet the current state standards. We'll meet full compliance with the requirements of the state water board when we build the project.

Kelly Heflin, Wife of Gabe and mother of 3.

On living there:

The greatest thing about it here is that it's so natural and healthy here. It's so safe for our kids. It gives them the kind of life you can't really have anywhere else. Gabe is the only one that works and we couldn't afford Laguna. If we can't stay, we'll probably move out of state. Gabe refuses to live inland - he needs saltwater or he'll literally go nuts. The hardest thing has been for our 12 year old daughter - not knowing hat's going to happen. Her best friend moved away in December.

On misconceptions toward El Morro residents:

The biggest thing I hear is that you guys have had it long enough, you've gotten away cheap and it's time for other people to enjoy it. No one has ever stopped any one from coming to the beach here. And with regards to money -- we pay what our management company makes us pay. If we stayed and our payment doubled, that would be fine. But it's not up to us. What is so bad about there being one affordable place to live in Laguna? If there's not, then what kind of place are you making for yourself?

We put together this big proposal for State Parks about how we wanted to compromise and how we would even take out the back row of trailers. We would have made it an affordable housing place for teachers and firemen - even people at the poverty level who needed housing. They totally denied it. Now they want to uproot tons of families and years of history.

Want to learn more? Head down to El Morro and talk to a few locals. Or visit: http://www.emit.org/CRYSTALCOVE.html

This website has a rundown of nearly every article ever written on the subject.

Campground Plans - Check 'em Out

http://www.parks.ca.gov/default.asp?page_id=21688