Editorial: 100 acres of opportunity near Camarillo
Ventura County has been here before. A longstanding state institution near Camarillo is closed, the result of a statewide realignment designed to service individuals in smaller facilities closer to home.
The last time that happened was back in 1997, and the result ultimately produced a bonanza for the county — the four-year public university it had long needed and desired. The former Camarillo State Hospital for the acutely mentally ill was converted into the campus of CSU Channel Islands.
Now, another shuttered state institution stands vacant. The former Ventura Youth Correctional Facility, also near Camarillo, was permanently closed last summer as part of a statewide shift in juvenile justice that directed youth offenders to county probation facilities.
State officials do not yet have clear plans on what to do with the 100-acre grounds and its campus of low-slung buildings. It has all the infrastructure one would expect of an institutional setting: power and water, kitchen and cafeteria, exercise and recreation areas, perimeter fencing.
More: Shuttered youth prison outside Camarillo stays empty while state weighs options
It had been eyed for conversion in the past. Back in 2008, the court-appointed state prison receiver proposed to use it as an adult prison for inmates with physical and mental health conditions. That proposal drew strong community opposition and was ultimately dropped.
Now there may be opportunities that don’t involve the criminal justice system. Two possibilities quickly come to mind, both of which are in areas of critical need for which significant state funding is available.
Proposition 1, approved by voters in March, authorized $4.4 billion to build more places to provide mental health care and drug or alcohol treatment, and there is an acute shortage of such facilities in Ventura County. State officials might find they could get more bang for those dollars by making use of land and facilities the state already owns for such purpose.
State officials have also authorized billions to address one of California’s most critical social problems, homelessness. This might be a bit of a stretch considering the somewhat remote location of the former youth correctional facility, but perhaps there could be a creative use of it to provide transitional housing for the homeless.
Surely, there are other possibilities that could be explored.
Perhaps the county’s legislative delegation, the Board of Supervisors and other government and civic leaders could convene a study group to examine potential uses for the site. As we learned with the aborted attempt to convert it to an adult medical prison, if good ideas aren’t developed from within the community, outside forces could try to impose an unwelcome plan.
The economic impact of the former youth prison was not insignificant. At one point, it employed more than 400 staff — administrators, groundskeepers, cooks, maintenance and janitorial workers. A mental health facility would require all that, plus clinicians and their aides.
As noted, Ventura County has been here before. It took vision, strong leadership and a great deal of hard work to make possible the conversion of a state mental hospital into a bustling university campus.
Perhaps nothing quite so grand can come from this. But there is a developed property with 100 acres of publicly owned land now sitting unused in the heart of Ventura County. With some vision and leadership, something good could come from this.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Editorial: 100 acres of opportunity near Camarillo
