Ventura County Site Picked for Reagan Library

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation has selected 100 acres of donated land in a rural area of eastern Ventura County as the site for the proposed $30-million Reagan presidential library and public policy research center, it was announced Friday.

The site selected for the library, which will house a museum and extensive archives of the Reagan presidency, was picked from among 30 other locations in the state because of its pristine surroundings and proximity to the Los Angeles metropolitan area, according to Gary Jones, executive director of the foundation.

“It’s going to have a beautiful view of surrounding mountains and the Pacific Ocean, which will make a very tranquil setting,” Jones said.

Reagans Know Area

President Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan are familiar with the locale and have been kept apprised of the site-selection process, Jones added.

The property, located on a mesa in an unincorporated area between the cities of Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley, is being donated by developers Donald E. Swartz and Gerald W. Blakeley. Their partnership, Blakeley Swartz, owns the land, which is part of a 640-acre parcel that the firm hopes will also be the site of a 200- to 300-room hotel and conference center and a 600-unit senior citizen housing project. The site is about 40 miles from downtown Los Angeles.

The current zoning for the land, however, calls for it to remain undeveloped, and all of the zone change proposals, including one for the presidential library and research center, must receive approval from the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

Foundation officials expect the library and museum, a Western-style complex featuring Spanish roof tile and adobe bricks, to draw about 100,000 visitors a year.

County officials said that approval of the library will require extensive review of the impact of those visitors on existing roads, sewers and other public works. “It may be a presidential library, but it will be treated as any other application,” county Planning Director Tom Berg said.

Nonetheless, officials of the county, as well as from the adjacent cities of Thousand Oaks, Moorpark and Simi Valley, said they are pleased with the library site selection. “We in the county will do whatever we can to expedite the process and get it built,” said Supervisor James Dougherty, a Democrat who represents the area.

Never Met President

Swartz said in an interview that he has never met the President, although he described himself as a supporter who voted for Reagan. Blakeley could not be reached, but Swartz said he believed that Blakeley also is not personally acquainted with the Reagans.

The planned Ronald Reagan Presidential Library will hold an estimated 60,000 linear feet of manuscripts, documents and other presidential memorabilia that will be available to scholars and the general public, foundation officials said. The 44,000-square-foot facility will be built with privately raised funds and then turned over to the National Archives for operation.

Foundation officials also plan to build the Ronald Reagan Center for Public Affairs, an academic research center for visiting and resident scholars, foundation Director Jones said. The foundation has yet to determine the size and research goals of that facility, which will be owned and operated by the Reagan Foundation, he said.

Private Donations

Funds for the library and research center have come from individual donations, Jones said. He would not say how much of the money needed to build the facility has been raised so far.

The foundation had planned to build the library and research center at Stanford University. Those plans were dropped last April after some Stanford faculty members and nearby property owners objected. But Jones said that the decision to seek a new location was made because the Stanford site was too small.

Sent Letter in June

Swartz, a Stanford alumnus, said he sent a letter to the foundation in June offering to donate 100 acres, after meeting with local and county officials about the idea. He said that he had informally discussed plans for commercial and residential development of the property earlier in the year with county officials but had met with opposition.

The agreement between Swartz and the Reagan Foundation is expected to be signed on Nov. 23, Jones said.

Supervisors are expected to hold public hearings on the library and conference center proposal later this year, county officials said.

The announcement on the Reagan library came one week after it was announced that the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library will be built in Yorba Linda.

Other presidential libraries are: Herbert Hoover, West Branch, Iowa; Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hyde Park, N.Y.; Harry Truman, Independence, Mo.; Dwight D. Eisenhower, Abilene, Kan.; John F. Kennedy, Boston; Lyndon B. Johnson, Austin, Tex.; Gerald R. Ford, Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids, Mich., and Jimmy Carter, Atlanta.

Times staff writer Judy Pasternak also contributed to this story,