County OKs Funds for Cal State Project

Ventura County will pay more than $240,000 to supplement a $1.7-million federal grant for the final phase of a flood-control channel to protect land selected for a new Cal State University campus.

County supervisors authorized the expenditure Tuesday with the provision that the Public Works Department apply for reimbursement from the state.

“This is particularly gratifying to me because it completes county flood control’s commitment to the university,” said Arthur E. Goulet, director of the Public Works Department.

Cal State officials chose the 260-acre lemon grove west of Camarillo for the planned campus in 1991, following a five-year search for a site.

But progress has been stalled because of statewide budget cuts and legal delays while the university works through condemnation proceedings to acquire a portion of the land.

Campus planners had hoped to have the site ready for classes by the turn of the century. They now acknowledge the opening may be delayed.

The funds from the U.S. Soil Conservation Service allow the county to complete a 1 1/2-mile-long concrete drainage ditch that will cut diagonally across the property. The property, bordered by Santa Clara and Central avenues, is subject to flooding during heavy rains.

The county will apply to the California Department of Water Resources to be reimbursed for its share, Goulet said.