Agencies Show Interest in State Hospital Site

Six state agencies, including the Cal State and University of California systems, have formally expressed interest in moving onto the Camarillo State Hospital campus targeted for closure, a consultant said Friday.

Administrators from the two higher-education institutions notified the state-appointed task force studying future uses for Camarillo State that they want to explore taking over all or part of the sprawling facility.

The disclosure came late Friday at the second meeting of the task force charged with plotting the future of the beleaguered state hospital.

More than two hours of emotional public testimony followed the announcement that half a dozen state agencies want to look at the property. Most of the public testimony urged panel members to spare the hospital from closing.

Planning consultant David Rodriguez, retained by the state and Consumer Services Agency to analyze possible uses for the property, said there is room among the 750 acres at Camarillo State for more than one state agency or organization.

Given the high cost of operating the facility, some state officials have suggested that a mixed use of the hospital would be the most economically viable option.

“We think there is an opportunity to do more than one thing at the site,” Rodriguez said at the beginning of the three-hour meeting. “We need to carefully study how things would interact.”

Besides the two university systems, Rodriguez said the California Conservation Corps, the state Youth Authority, the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy all said they want to explore options for using buildings on hospital grounds to house their programs.

The Conservation Corps simply wants to maintain the existing satellite center it operates at Camarillo State, while the Youth Authority said it could use at least 50 acres of the immense campus for a secured juvenile prison, Rodriguez said.

State parks administrators said they could use 50,000 to 60,000 square feet of office space at the hospital.

Cal State executives said they believe they could use the hospital grounds for their long-planned Ventura County campus. The university would attract 2,000 students relatively quickly, then expand to 15,000 students within 15 years, Rodriguez said.

UC officials want to safeguard their nationally recognized psychiatric research center at Camarillo State, which would be discontinued after two decades if the hospital closes, the consultant said.

Absent from the list are two agencies long considered to be interested in the property: the Department of Corrections and Department of Veterans Affairs.

Officials from Veterans Affairs “have not officially expressed any interest,” Rodriguez told the task force. “We thought that would be a natural.”

A handful of private-sector companies also has approached officials about moving onto the hospital grounds, Rodriguez said.

Specifically, he mentioned an unnamed psychiatric treatment center, a nursing home company and a special-education campus. More interest from the private sector will follow if the task force recommends marketing the property, he said.

“These are just some of the things that are kicking out there right now,” Rodriguez said.

The half a dozen state agencies were responding to letters of interest sent out to California government agencies last month by the task force, which Gov. Pete Wilson formed in June to examine potential uses for the property.

Wilson has moved to dismantle Camarillo State because of its dwindling patient load and escalating per-bed costs for treatment. The task force is assigned to explore alternatives for the hospital and submit a recommendation to Wilson by Nov. 1.

The initial opportunity for members of the public to testify before the panel drew more than 100 people to Camarillo City Hall on Friday.

Three dozen speakers took turns offering suggestions about what to do with the property or how to make the existing programs more cost-effective. Relatives of some mentally ill and disabled patients made emotional pleas to spare the hospital from closing.

“I have a daughter who is in Camarillo State, and I think it would be criminal to think about closing that program,” said Murray Lieber, who detailed 10 reasons why officials should keep the hospital open in Camarillo and close another facility in Norwalk.

The Department of Mental Health plans to relocate most of its 400 or so patients now at Camarillo to Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk, a facility that many of the patients’ relatives say is inferior to Camarillo State.

The Department of Developmental Services, which treats about 450 patients at Camarillo State, has plans to move its patients to one of three other facilities, including Fairview Developmental Center in Costa Mesa.

Marcia Flannery of Oxnard told the task force that Camarillo State has for decades been the only home her severely brain-damaged son has known.

“Paige is 57,” she said of her son. “I just turned 74 and my husband is 80. How do I get to Fairview that I know is 3 1/2 hours away?”

Some of those testifying were already looking past next year’s closure. The prospect of turning the hospital into a Cal State campus continued to draw more community support than other options such as another juvenile lockup.

“We already have one prison in this town,” Camarillo resident Kathy Van Slyke said. “We don’t need two. We very much need a university and we need it soon.”

The task force will next convene in mid-September. During a planned four-day session, members will pore over various proposals from the state agencies that have shown an interest in the property.