County Says Convert Hospital Into School

Ventura County supervisors on Tuesday approved a resolution formally supporting the conversion of Camarillo State Hospital into Ventura County’s first public university.

The resolution will be forwarded to Gov. Pete Wilson and Cal State University officials for their consideration.

A special gubernatorial task force voted overwhelmingly last month to pursue a proposal to move the Ventura campus of Cal State Northridge to the hospital grounds by the fall of 1998 for start-up of a new Cal State Channel Islands campus.

The families of some mentally ill patients who live at the 60-year-old hospital said Tuesday they support a university campus at the site. But they asked the supervisors to include in their resolution a statement about possibly using a portion of the property to treat some area patients.

The board members, however, said they believed it was best to acquire the university first and then work toward making some future accommodations for the mentally ill.

Supervisor John Flynn, who initially made the proposal to house some patients at the proposed university site, promised to work closely with their families to make that happen.

With the state hospital scheduled to close by July 1, plans call for the approximately 800 patients at the facility to be moved to community group homes and other state hospitals by late spring.

State mental health officials expect to save about $23 million a year by shutting down Camarillo State Hospital.