Chancellor Calls Camarillo Site Ideal for New Campus : Universities: Cal State is negotiating to buy 320 acres. But construction depends on a bond measure.

Recently appointed Cal State University Chancellor Barry Munitz said Friday that a piece of farmland west of Camarillo is the ideal location for a Ventura County campus.

On his first visit to the 320-acre site, chosen after a sometimes rancorous five-year search, Munitz praised the beauty of the property and its citrus orchard, surrounding vegetable fields and commanding view of the South Mountain foothills to the north.

“Coming from the middle of New York City, it’s always fun to see where the salad is grown,” he said.

But Munitz and state Sen. Gary K. Hart (D-Santa Barbara), who joined the chancellor at the site Friday, cautioned that Cal State may never break ground at the site if an upcoming education bond measure is not passed.

“Everyone is concerned about the economy,” said Hart, who sponsored the billion-dollar bond measure on the upcoming statewide June ballot. “But the economy will turn around eventually, and when it does, we want to move with all deliberate speed to serve the area’s educational needs.”

The June measure is essential not only for future campuses but also to maintain others within the 20-campus system, Munitz and Hart said. Although a bond measure was defeated in November, 1990, Hart pointed out that educational measures had passed in June of 1990, 1988 and 1986.

“This last defeat is a wake-up call to all those who are interested in the future of education,” Hart said.

Cal State wants to build a campus that would grow in phases over 30 years to eventually serve 20,000 students. During the first phases, the campus would provide permanent buildings for about 2,000 students to replace Cal State Northridge’s existing Ventura campus, which holds classes in rented office space in west Ventura.

The Camarillo farmland was chosen from nearly 40 sites considered after the city of Ventura refused to endorse a campus at Cal State’s first choice at the Taylor Ranch, on a bluff west of Ventura.

Ojai-area environmentalists also campaigned hard against that site, fearing that air pollution from students’ cars could float up the Ventura River Valley and into Ojai. Anti- and slow-growth advocates also opposed the site because they said it could encourage growth.

But the Camarillo site has potential problems as well. It is in a greenbelt area set aside for agriculture and open space. It also is prone to winter flooding and is next to the California Youth Authority prison.

Munitz said, however, that the site had been well studied by experts who believe a campus there can work.

“Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo has lived adjacent to a comparable facility and has had no problems,” he said. “I am not concerned that there will be problems here.”

Munitz, Hart and David Leveille, director of university relations, met Friday with officials from Ventura County and the site’s neighboring cities of Camarillo and Oxnard to discuss how to bring water and sewer services to the site.

Leveille, who has overseen negotiations to buy the property from the Sakioka and the Mosheni families, said the discussions continue to be cooperative.

He said once officials and property owners have agreed on a price, which will range from $10,000 to $50,000 per acre, the university will proceed with a so-called friendly condemnation of the land. Under such a transaction, the families would not oppose the condemnation but would still receive a tax break because their land was taken for the public domain.