McGrath Land Is 4th Finalist for CSU Site

Land owned by the McGrath family and lying in the flood plain of the Santa Clara River between Ventura and Oxnard is one of four final sites to be considered for a Cal State University campus, trustees decided Tuesday.

The 312-acre parcel is bordered by Harbor Boulevard to the west and straddles Gonzales Road, which would probably have to be rerouted to accommodate a university, officials said.

Cal State does not want a campus divided by a major thoroughfare. But if Gonzales were rerouted to line the southern border of the river, it could be built up as a levee to prevent flood damage from the river, according to one proposal from consultants hired by the McGrath family.

That multimillion-dollar project could get some financial or other support from the city of Oxnard or the McGrath family, although no formal arrangements have been made, said David Leveille, director of institutional relations for CSU.

“It appears there is a strong city commitment to help work this through,” Leveille said.

However, the site could face a strong opponent in the city of Ventura, which contends that a university at the McGrath property would add to the already crowded Ventura Freeway interchanges at Seaward Avenue and Victoria Boulevard. The campus would also add to traffic along Harbor Boulevard, Ventura City Manager John Baker wrote in a letter to Cal State Vice Chancellor John M. Smart.

The trustees, acting on recommendations from a Ventura County panel, also chose as possible university sites 448 acres of farmland south of Foothill Road and east of Ventura, 589 acres west of Camarillo and north of the Ventura Freeway, and 300 acres south of Wooley Road, south of Oxnard.

All four will be studied in depth for potential consequences to the environment and suitability as a campus site for 15,000 students. The studies will help trustees decide on a final site in May.

However, if consultants find during their studies that the McGrath property is environmentally or financially infeasible, the property will be dropped from consideration, Leveille said.

“There are problems with all the sites to varying degrees,” he said.

William G. Haydon, senior engineer with the Ventura County Flood Control Department, said engineering and design could solve the problems of building in the flood plain. The university could build levees to contain the river or elevate all the buildings on the campus a foot or two, but those solutions would be expensive, he said.

“As long as they stay out of the floodway, then dollars are the cure,” he said, referring to the direct path of the river during heavy rains that cause the river to flood.

Leveille said the university is not considering building a concrete channel to contain the river, similar to what has been done to the Los Angeles River through populated areas.

But Mark Capelli, a biologist and executive director of the Friends of the Ventura River, said any building near the river is an encroachment on the river environment and on wildlife habitat.

“If you’ve got urban uses in a flood-prone area, then the pressure is much greater to straighten out the channel and remove the vegetation,” he said.

Virginia Gardiner Johnson, a planner for the California Coastal Commission, said protection of existing structures is a valid reason to build concrete channels for a river, according to the state’s coastal plan.

“But this is not yet existing development,” she said. “We would be very concerned about the upstream effects that the development might have on the estuary downstream.”

Trustees chose the four sites as potential university locations after a four-year search in Ventura County. Taylor Ranch, which had been the trustees’ preferred site, was eliminated after the owners declared that they would not sell without a legal battle and community opposition developed.

Leveille said the McGrath property was added Tuesday to the site list after a discussion with flood control engineers, strong support expressed by the city of Oxnard and a hint by the McGrath family that it may be willing to donate a portion of the land.

Charles Conway, a member of the family and an attorney representing the McGraths, said Tuesday, however, that the family “is not considering donating any land at this time.”