TEMECULA -- What is expected to be a long journey to bring a California State University campus to Temecula began this week with city leaders sitting down with Cal State San Marcos officials.

Temecula is hoping to duplicate the success of Cal State San Marcos, which had its beginnings as an extension campus of San Diego State. Founded in 1989, it is one of the 23 campuses in the California State University system.

Temecula Mayor Chuck Washington and Councilman Mike Naggar, along with two assistant city managers and the city's economic development director, met Monday with Cal State San Marcos President Karen Haynes and school Provost Emily Cutrer and other school officials, to see if Temecula could become home to a satellite campus for the 18-year-old university.

"It was a very productive meeting. We heard some very positive things, but nothing definitive," Naggar said. "In fact, there are lots and lots of obstacles. But obstacles can be overcome. To make it happen this is going to take not just this council, but the entire community and a lot of philanthropy. But we have taken the first step."

CSUSM spokeswoman Kaine Thompson said the university has seen tremendous growth in recent years in the number of students from Riverside County that it serves. Nearly 1,200 of the campus's 9,176 students come from north of the county line, she said, up 9 percent from the previous school year.

"Cal State San Marcos is very aware of the growing need and interest in the Temecula area," Thompson said. "But these discussions are very preliminary at this point."

Washington said it was suggested by university officials that a campus in Temecula would need to offer at least three degree programs and have to be able to draw from 300 to 500 students to attend classes there.

"At the end of the of the day, there was an acknowledgement that this is an area of growing demand, a significant area and one that is in (the Cal State San Marcos) coverage area," Washington said.

The benefits of such a school would go beyond higher education, Washington said. It also would serve as a motivator for students in Temecula and the surrounding region to keep reaching for a college degree. Higher education was also a topic that has intertwined itself with economic development strategies being developed for the city of Temecula.

"When we looked at the larger picture of what we want this city to be in 20 years, 'quality of life' continued to be the underlying theme," he said. "For us to be a successful, viable, sustainable community, we need higher education."

For nearly four years, the city worked with a private developer to build a higher education center that would have been used by multiple schools to provide night classes and college courses for local residents. But in March, the project died when the developer was unable to secure leases and financing and meet the city's requirements for the land transfer. The city still owns the land.

However, city officials said in August that they would shift their focus to courting a single college, although not at that site.

As far as where such a campus could be located, Washington said there is land near Old Town as well as areas near the city's borders that could be purchased for the endeavor.

The 32-acre site on Diaz Road and Dendy Parkway once slated to be the site of the education center may be off the table as a location for the envisioned satellite campus. The city has solicited proposals for the former education center site and is currently considering another development for there, but can't disclose the details yet.

Washington said the next step in the quest of a satellite campus of Cal State San Marcos in Temecula would be to engage the community leaders, such as residents and businesses, to create a university foundation.

"If we bring enough people together, determine what we need to do and then roll up our selves -- we can start the work to make this a reality," Washington said. "If we dream big enough, it will happen. We are only limited by our failure to dream big enough."

Contact staff writer Nicole Sack at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or nsack@californian.com.