Camarillo Panel Nears Vote on Giant Complex

The Camarillo Planning Commission was near a vote late Tuesday on a proposal by WellPoint Health Networks to build 1.44-million-square-foot regional headquarters in the eastern end of the city.

WellPoint officials said they want to build on 61 undeveloped acres near Adolfo Road and the Ventura Freeway in the Mission Oaks Business Park. WellPoint is a for-profit subsidiary of health-care giant Blue Cross of California.

If approved, the first phase of the complex, measuring an estimated 700,000 square feet, would be completed by 1997. The cluster of seven buildings would become home to an estimated 1,300 employees who would be transferred from the health maintenance organization’s existing Newbury Park and Thousand Oaks locations.

“We’re very excited to be here. We’ve spent three years designing this facility and we looked at over 40 different locations before choosing Camarillo,” WellPoint Vice President John Siemon said. “We think it’s a good fit with the city.”

Ultimately, the $180-million facility--to be built in several phases over eight years--would accommodate nearly 7,200 employees.

The City Council is expected to discuss the project’s development agreement, along with the closing of some streets in the business park and the siting of a proposed helipad, at its meeting June 14.

The overall plan calls for the construction of 14 buildings between three and 10 stories tall and parking spaces for 5,600 vehicles in a self-contained, campus-like setting.

A health club for employees, a cafeteria, heliport and child-care facility would also be added to the development. Completion of the fourth and final phase is expected in the year 2003.

Matthew Boden, the city’s director of planning and community services, said that once the WellPoint headquarters is complete, it would represent the largest single-owner commercial office complex in the city.

“We think it’s a thoughtfully designed project that will enhance the eastern end of the city,” Boden said. “There are a few concerns about the height of one of the parking structures, but aside from that, I can’t see too many other problems that can’t be easily mitigated.”

Boden referred to a plan to place a 60-foot-tall parking structure next to an existing two-story commercial building on Cortez Circle. City planners have suggested moving the parking structure, making it smaller, or installing trees and shrubs to screen it from the existing building.

According to WellPoint officials, the complex will be used as the company’s central facility for the sale and management of health insurance policies sold to individuals, senior citizens and small companies.

Planning Commissioner Les Meredith said earlier Tuesday that he had concerns about increased traffic generated by the project and whether there was sufficient parking.

“I wouldn’t call any of my concerns deal breakers,” he said. “This looks like an awfully good plan, but any time you put 7,000 people in one area, you have to be a little worried about how that impacts the surrounding area.”

Earlier Tuesday, Jim Jevens, the city’s economic development consultant, praised the proposal, saying the city would benefit from both the jobs that the complex would create and an anticipated increase in sales tax revenues.

“Obviously, selling health insurance policies isn’t something that’s taxable, but those employees are bound to eat and shop in Camarillo and that translates to higher sales tax revenues for the city,” Jevens said. “This is a good project. WellPoint’s business does not harm the environment and a majority of the jobs are all medium- to high-paying positions.”