Local News in Brief : Cal State Trustees Seek to Buy Ventura Learning Center Site

Abeachfront site adjoining the city of Ventura was selected by the California State University Board of Trustees on Wednesday as the location for a permanent Ventura County learning center.

If the 240-acre site east of Harbor Boulevard and south of the Ventura Freeway can be acquired, it could be the first step toward establishing Ventura County’s first state university, a spokesman for the system said.

California State University, Northridge and UC, Santa Barbara now share costs for six classrooms in a Ventura office building. Ten state university programs are offered at the center, all under the auspices of CSUN.

The learning center would offer some degree programs but not the full range of courses and activities of a regular Cal State campus.

The potential site of the campus is owned by the Lusk Co., an Irvine-based land-development firm. If negotiations for purchase of the Lusk property fail, the trustees authorized the staff to pursue alternative sites.

Two of those sites are near Camarillo and two others near Oxnard.

City officials from Camarillo, Oxnard and Ventura had lobbied the trustees to designate their cities as the site of the learning center, with an eye toward the center eventually becoming a state university.

“I’m a little bit disappointed,” Camarillo Councilman Thomas S. Martin said Wednesday. “But any place in Ventura County is good. That will only be a 15-minute drive.”