COUNTYWIDE : Cal State Approves New Campus Site Near Youth Prison

Farmland between Camarillo and Oxnard will become the site for the next California State University campus, the 15-member board of trustees decided in Long Beach Wednesday.

The 14-1 decision, which ratifies action taken by a five-member site-selection committee on Tuesday, opens the way for Cal State staff members to negotiate to buy the 320 acres north of the Ventura Freeway and adjacent to the California Youth Authority prison.

If officials can acquire the land within their $6-million budget, Cal State plans to begin building a campus to serve up to 2,000 upper division and graduate students in the first phase of the project, planned to get under way in the next three to five years.

Over the next 20 years, the school is expected to develop into a full four-year campus serving 20,000 students.

In addition to campus housing for 1,500 students, officials estimate that another 6,400 houses or apartments will be needed in the county for students and staff members moving into the area.

To develop the unincorporated land, known as the Duntley/Chaffee property, the university will need the cooperation of the cities of Oxnard and Camarillo, the county, the state and possibly the federal government.

One of the cities will have to provide sewer and water services. And the county and federal government will have to help resolve a flooding problem at the site, officials said. The state must provide the bulk of the money for the campus.

“Dollars are not the immediate issue,” Vice Chancellor John M. Smart said. “The main issue is cooperation and support from the jurisdictions and the communities.”

Trustee Marian Bagdasarian of Fresno, who objected to the location near a prison, gave the only dissenting vote.