Reagans Seek to Be Buried on Grounds of Library : Grave site: The former President’s staff will submit a formal application to the county planning department soon, a spokesman says.

Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, have asked to be buried on the grounds of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Simi Valley, officials said Wednesday.

Reagan’s staff will submit a formal application for a burial site to the Ventura County Planning Department within two weeks, Bill Garber, a spokesman for the retired President, said Wednesday.

Reagan was in Santa Barbara and could not be reached for comment.

Carl Morehouse, a Ventura County planner on the Reagan library project, said officials of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation contacted the county about two weeks ago concerning the Reagans’ proposal.

“They happen to like the location,” he said.

The $60-million library, perched atop a hill above Simi Valley, is scheduled to open in November. On clear days, it features panoramic views of the Santa Susana Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.

Morehouse said the foundation’s preliminary proposal calls for an outdoor burial site on the west side of the library.

“The foundation came to us basically with a sketch on a napkin kind of thing,” he said. “And we told them that they had to come back and tell us exactly what they were going to do.”

Once the foundation submits its application, the county planning department would have 30 days to evaluate the design of the site and any environmental concerns posed by it. A public hearing would then be held before the county Planning Commission, which would decide whether to approve the project.

“It’s not a done deal,” Morehouse said. “Nobody has blessed anything. It has to go through the process.”

Moreover, officials said it is too early to tell whether such a burial site would require additional security, thereby adding to the $1.5-million minimum estimated cost to taxpayers annually to operate the facility.

“No decisions have been made on any of this,” Garber said. “Ronald Reagan is not planning on being buried anywhere for a long time.”

Although the exterior of the 153,000-square-foot library is complete, the installation of exhibits, displays and furnishings continues. Reagan’s supporters initially hoped to open the library on Reagan’s 80th birthday earlier this month. But as the massive project continued, the scheduled opening slipped to November.

When the library opens, visitors will be able to tour a museum that traces Reagan’s life from his early days as a radio announcer and actor to his eight years in the White House. But it will be years before any of the 54 million pages of Reagan’s White House records will be available to the public.

The former President is a frequent visitor to the library site. A few weeks ago, Reagan led former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on a private tour of the near-empty facility. Thatcher and her husband, Denis, were in Los Angeles to attend a birthday celebration for Reagan.

Garber noted that it is not unusual for a president to be buried on a library site. Harry S. Truman and Herbert Hoover are buried on the grounds of libraries built in their honor. Rutherford B. Hayes and Dwight D. Eisenhower, too, are buried at the sites of libraries chronicling their presidencies.

“This is not a precedent-setting thing,” Garber said. “President Reagan is not plowing new ground.”

However, Reagan and Eisenhower would be the only two presidents buried at presidential libraries outside their home states. Reagan was born in Tampico, Ill. Eisenhower, born in Denison, Tex., is buried on the grounds of his presidential library in Abilene, Kan.

Meanwhile, former President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, have made no plans to be buried at the Richard M. Nixon Library and Birthplace in Yorba Linda, said library director John Taylor.

Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalyn, plan to be buried in Carter’s hometown of Plains, Ga., said Carter spokeswoman Margaret Denson. The Carter presidential library is in Atlanta.

Officials of the Gerald R. Ford Library in Grand Rapids, Mich., could not be reached for comment.

Times staff writer Kenneth R. Weiss contributed to this story.