Park supt. wrapping up projects

The new superintendent of Crystal Cove State Park is striving to complete the RV park by spring of next year.

Todd Lewis, who most recently worked for the park system in Northern California, said he is busy but so far hasn’t had any difficulty in handling everything that is going on in the park. According to him, the transition to his new job has been smooth.

“I’m from San Diego County,” Lewis said. “Lived down there for many years. And so I knew what I was getting into. It was like coming home for me.”

Lewis worked as a public safety supervisor in Mendocino before being hired as the superintendent for Crystal Cove State Park. He has also worked as an off-highway vehicle ranger in Hollister Hills and as a canine handler in San Diego. He does admit that there are many challenges, but he says he enjoys his job.

“There are multiple balls to be kept up in the air,” Lewis said. “There’s working with nonprofit partners. Working with community groups. Working with stakeholders. Making sure that we keep our park. We hold ourselves to a high standard so that our facilities are meeting the needs of our visiting public. There’s just a lot going on, and so far it’s all been very rewarding.”

The new RV park — built on the former site of a mobile home park — will open up a new area of public use, Lewis said. It will also create access to a new stretch of the beach through a pedestrian tunnel.

According to Lewis, the RV park is more than 50% complete. Lewis is confident that by summer 2011 the RV park will be complete. The project was halted in January 2009 when the state ran out of bond money to fund the construction.

“We did have a period of time where the project was shut down with the bond freeze,” Lewis said. “We didn’t have bond money to continue paying the contractor, so the project had stopped for months. But that money has been released. The project is moving forward.”

According to Lewis, the RV park will include 200 day-use sites and 60 campsites. It will also include shade structures, larger group day-use structures and restroom facilities. Lewis said the construction of much of the day-use infrastructure and the framework for the campsites has started.

“The restroom structures have been started,” Lewis said. “A lot of the block work is done. Some of the framing is done. A lot of the shade structures, we call them ramadas, have been installed and have received their first coat of paint. None of the paving has gone down yet, so it still looks like dirt roads and dirt lots. But you’re starting to see some of the bones being put together.”

The finished park will also include a pedestrian tunnel that runs under Coast Highway to reach El Morro Cove. Lewis estimates it will be finished in the spring of 2011.

“This is nothing more than an estimation, because there’s any number of things that could happen between now and completion,” Lewis said. “We’re hoping for spring of next year. We’re hoping for spring, and we’re somewhat confident that by summer next year the project will be done.”