CSU Orders Study on Use of State Hospital Site

LONG BEACH — California State University officials Wednesday took their first official step in deciding whether Camarillo State Hospital is an appropriate site for the university proposed for Ventura County--Cal State Channel Islands.

Officials plan an initial study of using the 750-acre state hospital complex for a four-year university and are scheduled to present the results Sept. 10.

“The hospital presents an option,” said Handel Evans, acting president of the Channel Islands campus. “The option is how fast do you want to create an educational institution in that area. . . . This opportunity might present itself as a way to kick-start this institution. That’s a major policy issue.”

Evans, speaking to the university system’s ad hoc committee on campus development, made his comments during a meeting in Long Beach.

Converting the hospital into an educational facility to replace the operations of Cal State Northridge’s Ventura campus would require millions of dollars--money that has not yet been budgeted.

The study, along with seeking to confirm the need for a campus in Ventura County, will examine how to pay for refurbishing the 60-year-old mental hospital.

“If we had the money in the budget, it wouldn’t be an issue, but we don’t have any money,” said Evans, who was in charge of converting the Ft. Ord military base near Salinas into the 22nd Cal State campus--Cal State Monterey Bay.

The system already owns a separate 260-acre site near Camarillo that was acquired several years ago for a future university campus.

Camarillo State Hospital, which still treats about 400 patients, remains in operation. A governor’s task force is analyzing whether it is more cost efficient to keep the facility open or to convert it to another use. So far, at least half a dozen state agencies have expressed interest in taking over the hospital campus if it is closed to patients.

CSU is unable to present a formal proposal to a governor’s task force for reusing the hospital without the detailed analysis, said Richard P. West, vice chancellor for business and finance.

“Even though we have anticipated a campus in the Ventura community, we have not anticipated a schedule,” said West, adding that the system’s governing board would have to approve such a move.

A similar conversion plan Cal State Stanislaus has for a closed hospital in downtown Stockton provides a partial blueprint for transforming Camarillo State Hospital, officials said.

The Central California university hopes to convert part of the 102-acre complex with more than 1 million square feet spread over 56 buildings. The university, in cooperation with the city and county, is considering transforming the site to also include commercial and industrial uses.

The Camarillo site is much larger. Its 1.3 million square feet of space is about the size available at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which accommodates 20,000 students, Evans said. The Ventura branch of CSUN has about 700 full-time students, although officials forecast more than 2,000 students by the turn of the century.

“The [Camarillo] facility as it stands far exceeds our need,” Evans told the committee. “[But] do we have a need for education [in Ventura County]? You bet. Is it bigger than the speed with which we can build a facility? Absolutely.”

Evans said a coalition of educational users--local school districts and community colleges--that has also indicated interest in using the hospital could share the facility and divide the operations costs, similar to the Stanislaus combined-use plan.