Our view: Sea Cruise:A compromise waiting to happen

Someday, annual events won't be all that important to Del Norte County.

As the area's astounding natural beauty gets discovered by more people despite its remoteness, our challenge won't be so much to attract visitors as it will be to properly manage our growth.

That day is not here yet, which is why the Crescent City Car Club's decision to withdraw from formal participation in the annual Sea Cruise car show is so disturbing. Simply put, we need this event, which has been attracting hundreds of classic car owners and fans to Crescent City for 16 years.

Come October, Sea Cruise should be giving the local economy a much-needed boost while introducing Crescent City to a few more out-of-towners. It also should be what it always has been: a cool event that pulls us into Beachfront Park to stroll amidst four-wheeled glitter.

That still might happen. From the start, Sea Cruise has been organized by the club and the Chamber of Commerce, and chamber officials said this week they want to salvage the event. Some club members would probably help the chamber organize the show.

A better result would be for the car club to get back behind the wheel and work out its difficulties with the city government, which it claims has wrecked the event with its interference.

At first glance, it doesn't seem like the club and City Hall are very far apart on the flash-point issue.

The club is upset over a new city requirement that potentially could force the classic cars out of the park and onto an adjacent street. But that would only happen if rain made the Beachfront Park grass so wet that the cars would leave tire ruts. Steady rain is uncommon here in early October, and if the park did turn squishy, club members acknowledge the classic car owners wouldn't want to drive their prized possessions into the mud anyway.

So what's the real problem? Perhaps a bit of extremism on both sides of the issue.

Car club members want absolutely no meddling in Sea Cruise by the city, even though the car show's signature event takes place in a city park. Leave things the way they've been, they say, even if City Planner Will Caplinger contends the park's trees are weakened when vehicles drive atop their root systems.

Caplinger, on the other hand, has raised the specter that Beachfront Park events such as Sea Cruise might require special approval in the future under the California Environmental Quality Act. But CEQA normally comes into play on much more complicated projects than a one-day car show. Caplinger also warned that if the city doesn't adequately protect trees in the park, the California Coastal Commission might take it over.

Maybe Caplinger figured that raising those possibilities would make the rainy day restriction more palatable to Sea Cruise organizers. But maybe they see only a tiring pattern of potential new regulations.

Assuming that both sides are ultimately operating in good faith and don't have ulterior motives for junking Sea Cruise, there is fertile ground for a compromise here.

This is a job for City Council members, who fortunately have placed the issue on their Monday night agenda.

Good luck to them.