Building of Veterans Home Is Ensured

Gov. Pete Wilson signed a bill Monday that mandates the state’s fourth and final veterans home will be built in Ventura.

The move was expected because a state commission picked Ventura in November as the site for the last of four $33-million homes in California.

However, Sen. Jack O’Connell (D-Santa Barbara), who sponsored the bill, said he wanted extra assurance that the 400-bed facility would indeed be built in his district because there was a move afoot to have the home built in West Los Angeles instead.

“I felt that the Veterans Home Commission’s decision needed to be written in stone,� he said. “We overcame the 800-pound gorilla in Los Angeles. It was very important to codify the commission’s recommendations.�

The home is expected to be built on a 22-acre tract near Telephone Road and Saticoy Avenue. A housing developer will donate the land after the city approves its proposal to build more than 400 homes in east Ventura, which will in turn occur once the state approves the funding for the veterans home.

That isn’t expected to occur until 2000 at the earliest, when the other three homes are built and fully occupied, O’Connell said.

Only the first home, in Barstow, is open.