Residents Favor Taylor Ranch Campus : Polls: A Times survey shows 54% of respondents countywide support a new Cal State University on the controversial site.

Placing the county’s educational and cultural needs over environmental and growth questions, Ventura County residents strongly support construction of a new Cal State University campus on a controversial hillside site overlooking the city of Ventura, according to a Los Angeles Times Poll.

County residents who support a proposed Cal State campus at Taylor Ranch just west of the Ventura city limits outnumber opponents by a clear margin, according to the poll.

The Times poll, conducted in telephone interviews with 818 Ventura County residents on Saturday, showed 54% in favor of locating the campus at Taylor Ranch compared to 30% in opposition. An additional 16% of those polled were not sure of their positions.

The margin of error is five percentage points in either direction.

While the poll was hailed this week by advocates of the Taylor Ranch site as evidence of the public support that Cal State officials want before they will commit to building the campus, it also revealed that many county residents know very little about the issue.

When initially asked if they considered Taylor Ranch an appropriate site for a new Cal State campus, 39% of the respondents, or almost two out of every five of those polled, said they did not know enough about the subject to state an opinion and an additional 11% said they were not sure of their views.

Those who said they had enough information to voice an opinion, however, lined up by a margin of more than 2 to 1 in favor of the Taylor Ranch site, with 34% of those polled favoring the location compared to 16% against.

After the main arguments both for and against locating a new Cal State campus at Taylor Ranch were summarized, all 818 respondents were asked again for their positions on the issue. It was that question that produced a split of 54% in favor of the site and 30% opposed.

In addition to showing strong support within the county for a new campus at Taylor Ranch, the Times poll established overwhelming support among county residents for a new Cal State campus to be located somewhere within the county, but not necessarily on the controversial hilltop location.

When asked if they either approved or disapproved of a new Cal State campus in the county, 80% of the respondents said they approved of the project and only 11% said they disapproved. Another 9% said they were not sure.

Comments interpreted by many as an ultimatum by Cal State Chancellor W. Ann Reynolds to the effect that no new campus will be built in the county except at Taylor Ranch appear to have paid off strategically for Reynolds, the poll also indicated.

Asked about the comments by Reynolds, 47% of those polled said the chancellor’s statements made no difference to them. A sizeable 38% of the respondents, however, said the comments made them more likely to support the Taylor Ranch site. Only 8% said the “take-it-or-leave-it” thrust of her remarks made them less likely to be in favor of the campus.

Of the 818 respondents to the poll, 197 were residents of the city of Ventura. In that group, 51% favored locating a new Cal State campus at Taylor Ranch while 41% voiced opposition and 8% had no opinion.

Asked about the comments by Reynolds, 32% of the Ventura city residents said the statements made them more likely to support the Taylor Ranch site while 18% said they would be less likely to do so. The remainder said the comments made no difference to them.

Cal State officials and supporters of the Taylor Ranch site this week hailed the poll results as validation of their position.

“It’s enormously gratifying,” said Joyce Kennedy, director of the Ventura campus of Cal State Northridge.

Kennedy said the poll results “corroborate and validate the unofficial feedback we’ve been getting throughout the county.”

Cal State Vice Chancellor Jack Smart called the results significant.

“It looks like public opinion is on our side,” Smart said. “It certainly validates what we have said all along that the county needs and should have a public four-year institution. It’s nice to have specific results to point to as further support for our efforts.”

Smart said he has scheduled a news conference in Ventura later today to announce that Cal State officials are encouraged by the support received in forms of resolutions from organizations and public bodies and letters from individuals.

The results of the poll by The Times reflect that support, he said. But he added that he cannot yet say whether the university will go forward with a full environmental impact report on the Taylor Ranch site until officials know whether they can solve water and traffic problems.

He expects results of preliminary studies on traffic and water in two weeks, Smart said.

While the Times poll was greeted enthusiastically by supporters of a Cal State campus at Taylor Ranch, it appeared to sharpen the battle lines already drawn between those who see the question as a countywide issue and those who think the fate of the new campus should be decided by residents of the city of Ventura who may be most affected by a new campus.

Opponents of the Taylor Ranch site dismissed the importance of the poll because its primary focus was countywide instead of exclusively on the views of Ventura city residents.

“I am not interested in county polls; I’m interested in city polls,” said Ventura City Councilman Gary Tuttle, an outspoken opponent of the Taylor Ranch site. “I guarantee you, you wouldn’t get those results in a city poll.”

Russ Baggerly, a spokesman for the Environmental Coalition, an umbrella group for local environmental organizations, said people east of the Conejo Grade lack knowledge of the issues involving the site.

“They haven’t been as informed because their newspapers haven’t been making as much of an issue of it,” he said. “They are making a decision short on information.”

Environmentalists have complained that students using a university at Taylor Ranch would create too much air pollution and traffic, and that they would use more water than the drought-dried city can afford to give.

Reynolds said in December that Cal State would not order a full environmental impact report on the Taylor Ranch hillside property west of Ventura until the community convinced her of its support for a university here.

THE TIMES POLL

Do you approve or disapprove of locating a new California State University campus in Ventura County? Approve: 80% Disapprove: 11% Not Sure: 9% Do you favor or oppose a new Cal State University campus at the Taylor Ranch site? Approve: 54% Disapprove: 30% Not Sure: 16% Do comments by Cal State Chancellor W. Ann Reynolds make you more or less likely to support the Taylor Ranch site? More Likely: 38% No Difference: 47% Less Likely: 8% Not Sure: 7%