Proposal for Camarillo Campus Sparks Debate

CAMARILLO — A proposal to share the sprawling grounds of the state mental hospital with a new Cal State University campus has sparked debate over the future of the underused facility targeted for closure.

Rather than shut down Camarillo State Hospital by July 1997, two Ventura County legislators have asked Gov. Pete Wilson to consider opening the county’s first public university on state hospital grounds.

Wilson, who in January proposed closing the Camarillo hospital for the mentally ill and disabled to save money, is scheduled to release a revised recommendation Tuesday when he presents his final 1996-97 budget to the Legislature.

Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-Santa Barbara) and Assemblyman Brooks Firestone (R-Los Olivos) said in a letter to Wilson that their plan would save 1,500 hospital jobs and accelerate plans to open a Cal State campus in Ventura County.

The idea is to keep the hospital cost-effective by continuing to treat the 450 mentally retarded patients at the facility, while also hosting the 1,500 students now enrolled at a Cal State Northridge satellite campus in Ventura.

The novel idea met mixed reaction among legislators, who will ultimately decide the fate of the 60-year-old hospital.

Assemblyman Tom J. Bordonaro Jr. (R-Paso Robles), who is a member of the subcommittee looking at mental health funding, welcomed the joint-use plan as an alternative to closing the facility.

But Sen. Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley), whose district includes the hospital, said the proposal seems unworkable and criticized O’Connell and Firestone for crowding her turf.

“It’s not possible,” Wright said Thursday of the proposed collaboration. “I wonder how they would feel if there was a controversial issue in their district and I stepped in supporting one side or another.”

The joint-use proposal, which has never been tried in California, would locate Ventura County’s first public university on the grounds of Camarillo hospital.

Moving onto hospital grounds could shave years and millions of dollars from the time and expense of building a university from scratch on a nearby 260-acre lemon grove that Cal State recently acquired.

But Cal State officials have reservations about placing university students near patients in mental wards.

“The safety of our students is of primary importance,” said Jim Considine, chairman of Cal State’s Board of Trustees. “It would definitely be an obstacle that we would have to overcome.”

Randy Ferguson, a deputy director with the Department of Developmental Services, said he was more concerned about the severely retarded patients being victimized by the students.

But Assemblyman Firestone said the pairing of the hospital and university could be fortuitous, providing an educational opportunity for students interested in mental health professions and providing the hospital with volunteers.

“It could be a very good thing for the students and a very good thing for the disabled,” he said. “I’m assuming there would be no safety issue because it would be carefully and sensitively planned.”

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Times staff writer Daryl Kelley contributed to this story.