CSU Trustees to Decide on 2nd Site Study

Trustees of the California State University system will meet in Ventura on March 1 to decide whether to proceed with the next step toward building a university at the Taylor Ranch, Cal State Vice Chancellor Jack Smart said this week.

The trustees will decide whether to order a second environmental impact report on the controversial hillside bluff just west of the Ventura city limits during a special meeting in Ventura that will be open to the public, Smart said.

“We know it would be a long and expensive process,” Smart said about the environmental report. The report, which would take about two years to complete, would focus on problems associated with water availability, increased traffic and air pollution as well as potential alternative sites.

Smart will present a report to the trustees March 1 that will include information on preliminary studies conducted by the university system on traffic and water. He also will offer information on community support for the project, based on endorsements, letters and information from a Los Angeles Times poll, taken last month, that showed support for Taylor Ranch.

Smart said the level of community support has encouraged the staff to proceed with the report.

Early results from the water study were encouraging as well, he said, leading him to believe that the water shortage problem in the city of Ventura can be overcome.

But several details in the traffic study remain to be worked out, including the funding for a new northbound off-ramp, if it is needed, for the Ventura Freeway. Neither study is finished, he said.

The second environmental impact study became necessary after a judge ruled that a report considering the effects of a two-year campus was inadequate. The new university would begin as a campus for upper division students, taking over the duties of the off-campus Ventura center, which is a branch of the Cal State Northridge campus.

The school is not expected to reach its top enrollment capacity of 12,000 to 15,000 students for 30 years, Smart said.

The meeting will begin at 9:30 a.m. in the Windjammer Room at Alexander’s Restaurant, 1080 Navigator Drive in Ventura. Smart said the public is invited.