Panel Urges University at Camarillo Hospital

The drive to turn Camarillo State Hospital into a four-year public university received a major boost Thursday when a team of land-use consultants recommended transforming the mental hospital into a college campus.

Cal State University officials should annex all 750 acres of the sprawling hospital complex and parcel out smaller sections to other agencies as a way to reduce overall operating costs, the consultants told a task force studying ways to use the aging facility.

The recommendation could be key to the future of the hospital, which Gov. Pete Wilson has ordered closed because of a dwindling patient population and spiraling operating costs.

Members of the governor’s task force, many of whom already support the idea of bringing a public university to the site, are expected to give serious consideration to the consultants’ analysis before forwarding a formal recommendation to the governor’s office by Nov. 1.

Wilson has said he would weigh heavily the task force’s conclusion when deciding what to do with the facility--a collection of 85 buildings and 1.5 million square feet of homes, offices and classrooms--which is due to close in July.

The analysts concluded that university administrators should share the complex with community colleges, county schools and local high-tech businesses, creating a vibrant “economic engine” that would position Ventura County to capitalize on emerging technology and commerce.

“We think you have an opportunity to do something truly extraordinary,” said land-use consultant James Goodell, who coordinated the analysis of the hospital property. “But doing it is going to be extremely complex.”

In lining up behind the Cal State proposal, consultants did not discount a plan by the California Youth Authority to convert the property to a juvenile prison.

If the ambitious university project does not get the necessary funding, the youth authority plan could be implemented as a backup scenario, consultants said.

Several members of Wilson’s handpicked panel embraced the advisory group’s suggestion. “I feel an excitement for a university in this area that could be a model the way you have described it,” said Bettina Chandler, who represents the nearby Casa Pacifica group home on the task force.

But not all members shared that feeling. Several said they worried about what would become of the hospital’s 800 patients and 1,500 employees, who spend their $80-million payroll across the county.

Many of the parents whose children have lived for years at the hospital said they were disappointed that analysts never considered plans to keep the hospital open by bringing in more patients.