Defeat Jeopardizes Plans for Campus : Cal State University: The rejection of Prop. 143 could indefinitely delay planning of a facility in the county. Measure A’s loss puts road projects on hold.

Voters dealt a devastating blow Tuesday to the development of a California State University campus in Ventura County and to local transportation funding to ease clogged traffic on area highways.

Voters in Ventura County and statewide rejected Proposition 143 to provide $450 million for building and maintaining new and existing Cal State and University of California campuses, throwing into jeopardy the future of a Cal State campus in Ventura County.

County voters also defeated Measure A, which would have increased the sales tax one-half cent to raise $500 million over 20 years to improve such traffic tangles as the Ventura Freeway’s Santa Clara River Bridge, which links Ventura and Oxnard; the Saticoy bridge, which crosses the Santa Clara River on California 118 through Saticoy; and the intersection of the Ventura Freeway with busy Victoria Avenue.

Cal State University officials and Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara) said they believed that the $7 million set aside to buy land for a new campus can be retained. But with no new money for capital programs, officials said planning and construction of the first phase of an ultimate $300-million campus could be delayed indefinitely.

“I wouldn’t want to predict any opening of a new campus at this point,” said Cal State Vice Chancellor John M. Smart. Smart said that, if the university goes forward with plans to buy a piece of land for a campus, its funds will be limited to the $7 million, which will have to cover environmental impact reports as well as purchase of the property.

“But I would say the objective is still to acquire a site, so that, if and when the state can afford to construct a campus, the site will be there to do it,” he said.

In addition to a years-long delay for a Ventura campus, Chancellor Ellis E. McCune said Cal State may have to halt construction at its new San Marcos campus, which was due to open to students in 1992.

Hart said he will suggest a special bond election, possibly next year, to ensure funding for the university’s needs.

Ventura County officials predicted that they will have a second chance at transportation funding as well, probably in the form of another road-tax measure when the economic mood is brighter.

“We’re in difficult times right now, and people are uneasy,” said county Supervisor John K. Flynn, who predicted gridlock in five years without major work on area highways. “They’re saying they don’t want to give any more money to government, because they’re not sure it has been managed properly.”

Flynn and other officials said the overwhelming defeat of the transportation tax will place Ventura County in a bad position when the county bids for state funding for local projects.

“When you go to the state Transportation Department and ask for money, they want to know how we’re going to come up with matching funds,” Flynn said. “We’ll say, ‘We don’t have anything.’ And they’ll say, ‘We don’t have anything for you either.’ ”

With all precincts reporting but thousands of absentee ballots still uncounted, 104,976 people, or 67.3%, voted against Measure A, with only 51,064 people, or 32.7%, supporting the new tax.

Also, local measures in Moorpark, Fillmore, Santa Paula and Piru that would have raised taxes for schools, ambulance service, building repairs and library services failed to garner the two-thirds vote needed for approval.

Ventura County voters rejected Proposition 143 by 88,436 votes, or 55.8%, to 69,961, or 44.2%. Statewide, voters were slightly more concerned with higher education, defeating the proposition 51.2% to 48.8%

Hart and Cal State University officials stressed the need to move swiftly to spend the $7 million on a new site in Ventura County, where Cal State has been trying to buy an acceptable location for four years.

The money, which came from a 1986 bond issue, is thought to be secure until June 30, 1992. But the Legislature could reappropriate it before then for more pressing needs, such as upgrades to make buildings earthquake safe, said Bill Whiteneck, chief consultant to the state Senate’s Education Committee.

Of the seven sites now being considered for a possible Cal State campus in Ventura County, the university would have to exceed its budget to buy at least three, university officials said at their Oct. 31 meeting in Oxnard.

The Taylor Ranch west of Ventura, property owned by the Donlon family at Wooley Road and Rose Avenue near Oxnard, and the southern portion of a site straddling Foothill Road near east Ventura each would probably cost more than $7 million.

Property next to the California Youth Authority near Camarillo, the north half of the Foothill Road property, land owned by the Lusk Co. and McLaughlin family near Ventura Harbor, and land owned by the McGrath family near McGrath State Beach could probably be purchased within the budget, officials and property owners said.

Cal State University officials would also have to find funds to keep area roads from becoming clogged with students in the absence of local funding for improvements to existing county highways.

According to Ginger Gherardi, executive director of the county Transportation Commission, the roads that will suffer the most from lack of funding include the Moorpark Freeway, which is already crowded during rush hours; the two-lane California 118 between Moorpark and the Ventura Freeway; and the narrow California 33 at the Casitas bypass.

“The issue will come back again, because the reality in this county is there are not the dollars to build the projects that are needed,” Gherardi said.

Gherardi cited Orange County--choked by gridlock--as an example. After two unsuccessful tries in six years, Orange County voters Tuesday approved a sweeping package of highway transit projects, financed by a half-cent sales tax.

Pat Baggerly, a member of the Environmental Coalition, which opposed the measure, said the strong defeat has more to do with growth control than bad timing.

“People don’t want to spend their money on something that’s only the backbone for more development,” she said. “Roads are just growth-inducing, everyone knows that.”

THE NUMBERS CONGRESS: A26

STATE SENATE: A27

ASSEMBLY: A27

HOW VENTURA VOTED: B3

SCHOOLS: B4

MUNICIPALITIES: B5