Noise Hurts CSU Interest in Top Site : Oxnard: University officials say the Sakioka Farms property is only a mile from the west end of the runway at Camarillo Airport.

An Oxnard farm that was ranked Sept. 7 as the best location for a new Cal State University in Ventura County may be disqualified because of noise from the nearby Camarillo Airport, a university official said Friday.

The Sakioka Farms property, which includes more than 400 acres of agricultural land surrounded by industrial developments east of Rice Road and south of the Ventura Freeway, is less than a mile from the west end of the Camarillo Airport runway, said David Leveille, director of Cal State’s institutional relations.

Leveille said the state Department of Transportation was expected to decide next week whether the location would bring the university too close to the noisy runway.

“It’s right under the flight pattern,” Leveille said. “The preliminary indications are that it’s a no-go.”

The site would also be subjected to noise from the Ventura Freeway, which borders the property to the north, and from busy Rice Avenue to the east, which is the state’s designated route to realign California 1.

“The noise level would be extremely heavy,” Leveille said.

Property known as the Duntley Trust, north of Central Avenue and east of Santa Clara Avenue, is far more suitable, he said. Sakioka also owns 277 acres near the Duntley site and is interested in negotiating, Leveille said.

Matthew Boden, Camarillo planning director, said the city could work out a joint powers agreement with Oxnard and Ventura County so Oxnard would provide sewer services for the Duntley property, Camarillo would provide water and the university would remain on unincorporated county land.

Leveille said potential problems at the site include its location in a flood plain that would be subject to flooding by heavy rains once every 500 years. It is also in the Camarillo/Oxnard greenbelt.

The officials made their comments Friday during a bus tour of eight potential university sites in Ventura County. The 37-member selection committee, made up of Cal State officials and Ventura County representatives, plans to narrow the potential sites to five or fewer at a meeting in Ventura on Friday.

Cal State will then order an in-depth study of the environmental impacts a new university would bring to all the final sites, Cal State Vice Chancellor John Smart said. Cal State trustees will choose a final site after the environmental report is complete, Smart said.

Cal State officials want at least 200 acres to build a campus that would eventually serve 15,000 students. They seek a location west of the Conejo Grade with 10-minute access from a major freeway. Officials also want willing property sellers and community support.

Cal State had chosen the 450-acre Taylor Ranch west of Ventura. But the university was forced to all but abandon its plans in June after the Ventura City Council became divided on the issue and community opposition developed.

University officials reopened the site selection process with 40 potential locations. On Sept. 7, the site selection committee narrowed the list to nine in addition to the Taylor Ranch, which Smart had said would be among the final sites considered.

But neither he nor two Cal State trustees who took the tour Friday would confirm that the Taylor Ranch is still a potential site. The bus tour did not include Taylor Ranch.

Officials announced Friday that two other sites are no longer under consideration. The Hartman Ranch at the foot of the Conejo Grade had been withdrawn from consideration because of opposition from Camarillo, said Brian Boxer of EIP Associates, a Sacramento consulting firm.

The so-called Walker/Hearne property, which had been included as part of the potential site known as the Hillside property, was also eliminated Friday.

Other sites toured Friday and still being considered are:

* The Saticoy/Hillside site, between Saticoy Avenue and Kimball Road and straddling Foothill Road in northeast Ventura.

* The Oxnard Boulevard site, 544 acres south of Gonzales Road, between Rose Avenue and Oxnard Boulevard in an unincorporated area of Oxnard.

* The Lusk/McLaughlin property, 200 acres near the Ventura Harbor, north of Olivas Park Drive at Harbor Boulevard.

* The Hugo McGrath property, 1,100 acres south of Gonzales Road at Harbor Boulevard in the Oxnard area.

* The Diedrich/Donlon property, 590 acres west of Rice Avenue and north of Wooley Road in Oxnard.

* The West Santa Paula site, the most remote of the locations, on hillside property south of the Santa Paula Freeway and west of 10th Street.