Reagan Asks to Be Buried on Grounds of His Library

Former President Ronald Reagan has asked that he and his wife, Nancy, 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 at the library to the Ventura County Planning Department within two weeks, said Bill Garber, a spokesman for the retired President.

Reagan, who turned 80 this month, was in Santa Barbara and could not be reached for comment.

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

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

The $60-million presidential library, perched atop a hill high 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.

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.

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 will have 30 days to evaluate the design of the site and any environmental concerns it poses. A public hearing would 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 at least $1.5 million it is estimated to cost taxpayers annually to maintain 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.”

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

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, library director John Taylor said.

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

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