1999 The year in review

Growth creates tidal wave of activity in 1999

By BOB WILSON
Valley Press Staff Writer

The brightest lick came only nine days before the end of 1999, when SR Technics announced Palmdale would become the home of its North American aircraft maintenance operations.

The maintenance work holds the promise of bringing 3,000 to 6,000 jobs to the city, already home to the Lockheed-Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and BAE Systems aircraft companies.

"It's a great Christmas present," Mayor Jim Ledford said of the news, particularly in light of an October agreement for the development of Palmdale Regional Airport with its owner, the city of Los Angeles.

That agreement states that L.A.'s airports department will work with the city of Palmdale to market the local airport as an alternative to the congested Los Angeles International facility.

The goal is to pursue both passenger and air-cargo business, improve access via rail and road, and publicize airport-adjacent amenities to the aerospace industry.

New workers attracted to such jobs could end up in new homes sprouting up throughout the city. At least six home builders initiated major projects in Palmdale during the past 12 months, with larger efforts concentrated on the city's west side in the Rancho Vista and City Ranch plan areas.

The Rancho Vista Development Co. is building 95 homes; the Beazer company is spreading about 250 new homes between two tracts; the Forecast company is erecting about 200 houses in two tracts; and the Harris company is putting up 100 houses.

At 25th Street West and Elizabeth Lake Road, the Kaufman & Broad development company is building the first 500 homes in the long-awaited City Ranch project.

The homes will be the first of about 5,200 residential units planned for the project by Kaufman & Broad and its new partner, the Newhall Land and Farming Co.

All the projects are in the vicinity of a new 18-hole public golf course under construction at 30th Street West and Avenue N-8 by R. Gregg Anderson, Rancho Vista Development's general manager.

Work on the 137-acre links and clubhouse began in May and is to be completed by September 2000.

Commercial efforts in the city were rekindled as well, fueled in part by the construction of a twostory, 150,000-square-foot Dillard's department store at the Antelope Valley Mall.

The mall and its nearby environs also became home to several new restaurants. They will be joined this spring by a new Lowe's home improvement center, a Barnes & Noble bookstore, a Starbucks coffeehouse, a Linens N'Things fabrics outlet, a Panda Express eatery and two new hotels: a three-story, 90-unit Marriott Courtyard facility and a three-story, 90-unit Marriott Residence Inn.
Such growth, as well as the continued expansion of the city's population - now 120,132 - sparked additions to Palmdale's City Hall complex in the heart of downtown.

New city complex

Work on a two-story, 30,000square-foot structure to house the city's public works, planning, building and safety, and economicdevelopment departments is expected to be completed by June.

Construction of a four-room, 17,500-square-foot courthouse for civil litigation, family-law cases and some juvenile matters should be completed by September, with a move-in of Los Angeles County judges and court workers to take another two to three months.

Upon completion of the new municipal building, city officials will begin a $3.4 million remodel of the City Council chambers and Cultural Center.

In all, the work will bring improvements worth an estimated $13.4 million.

Other improvements in 1999 were the result of demolition rather than construction. After a longfought court battle, Palmdale won the right to raze 57 dilapidated homes owned by Beverly Hills slumlord Dr. Milton Avol, who died later in the year.

The demolition of Avol's homes was part of an ongoing effort to improve appearances citywide while decreasing crime. In regard to crime, Los Angeles Sheriff Leroy Baca visited Palmdale in February to mark the opening of an expanded sheriff's station.

Also expanded was the city's Pelona Vista, which grew from five soccer fields to nine, plus a tot area, a picnic area, restrooms and a 460-space park-and-ride lot.

Expansion of the number of businesses selling adult goods in the city sparked notice in January, as did local billboards advertising sexually-oriented videotapes. Store owners agreed by March to voluntarily tone down their displays.

Books and more books

In February, the Palmdale City Library reopened with a brighter interior, more space, and more books. In May, the facility was rededicated in conjunction with the opening of the Strasburg Family Antelope Valley History Room, an area filled with photos and documents collected and donated by educator and historian Fred Strasburg.

February also was when sheriff's Lt. Terry Judge tendered his resignation from his second term on the Palmdale City Council. Judge's departure, and decisions in July by David Myers and Joe Davies not to seek re-election, set the stage for a major change in the city's leadership with the Nov. 2 municipal election.

The same month, plans for a new 200-unit, low-income apartment complex on the city's east side spurred protests from nearby homeowners. The homeowners' opposition spurred the enactment of a 45-day moratorium in March. The ban was soon extended to a year to give city officials time to take a second look at its own plans for land use in the city.

In November, after a public workshop, the city adopted a number of changes to its General Plan, many of which reduced the amount of land set aside for multifamily housing along Avenue R between 20th and 47th streets east.

June marked the end of a 10year battle for approval of a 540acre housing development with 80 acres set aside for a Palmdale campus of Antelope Valley College, based in Lancaster.

A future AV college

County officials approved Palmdale's annexation of the land in October, paving the way for representatives of the college to request funding from the state for the $30 million project.

Work on the noncollege portion of the development has yet to begin. Plans called for the construction of 847 homes and a golf course south of Barrel Springs Road between 37th and 47th streets east.

The project's developer, David Bushnell, agreed to donate a portion of his land in return for $3.2 million worth of state-funded infrastructure for the project. The estimated cost of that infrastructure is $11 million.

The first college buildings are expected to support a 3,000-student enrollment in the fall of 2004. The campus eventually is to accommodate 10,000 students.

Less certain is the fate of a local route for a proposed 700-mile highspeed rail system that would link Northern and Southern California with trains running at up to 220 mph.

Representatives from Palmdale and Los Angeles have been fighting for months to convince the California High-Speed Rail Authority to run the train through the Antelope Valley near Palmdale Regional Airport.

The rail authority's staff has resisted, claiming the route would increase the cost of the $25 million project.

New city leaders

In November, members of the nine-member authority agreed to reconsider the advantages of having a stop in Palmdale rather than routing the trains along Interstate 5, near Gorman.

In December, the rail authority approved the overall concept, placing the responsibility for raising the money for the effort or killing it with the Legislature and Gov. Gray Davis.

A draft plan approved by the authority suggests that the money for the project could come from boosting the state's 7 1/4-cent sales tax by one-quarter cent next year.

Pressure from residents unhappy with increased congestion on highways and at airports may trigger approval of the tax hike. The authority will hold public workshops around the state to get comments on the draft report before sending a final version to the Legislature in spring.

Also unresolved is how the city will go about improving medical care for residents in the southeastern portion of the Antelope Valley.

In mid-December, representatives of Antelope Valley Hospital submitted a proposal asking for Palmdale to provide nearly $1 million to help establish a $4.4 million medical facility with 24-hour care on the southeast corner of 40th Street East and Palmdale Boulevard.

At the same time, city officials were negotiating with an Orange County medical organization with interests in the AV Medical, Sierra Medical and Pegasus Medical groups for the construction of a 65bed full-service hospital near 10th Street West and Technology Drive.

Health care for all

Attracting a new hospital was a plank in the campaign platforms of most of the 23 candidates who made bids for seats on the City Council in November. Another popular plank was reducing the animosity and competitiveness between Palmdale and Lancaster over new jobs and new stores.

During the council campaign, Assemblyman George Runner, RLancaster, raised the idea of merging the two cities to form one municipality comparable in size to St. Louis, Pittsburgh or Tucson, Ariz.

The merger, Runner said, would eliminate not only intercity competition but save money by eliminating duplicated services and give the Antelope Valley more political clout.

Foes of the idea said it was proof that Lancaster politicians were anxious to gain control of Palmdale and give Runner a new political post after he is forced out of the state Legislature by term limits.

Mayor Ledford, pointing to a Runner-backed slate of Mike Dispenza, Kevin Carney and Rod Penner, said their goal was to join Councilwoman Shelley Sorsabal on the council and create a majority for putting Lancaster's interests ahead of Palmdale's.

After the election of Dispenza, Carney and Penner, the new council voted immediately to adopt a new policy barring Palmdale from using incentives to lure businesses away from Lancaster.

They also voted to delay a decision on using incentives to lure three Lancaster businesses until the new policy could go into effect, essentially killing the city's offers.

The new council majority and their counterparts in Lancaster cheered the moves, saying they would bring a new spirit of cooperation between the two cities and allow them to use their limited funds to lure businesses to the area from outside the Valley.

Marring this year's municipal election was the arrest of candidate Carney three days before the polls opened.

Carney's fate unsettled

A sergeant with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, Carney was arrested for allegedly committing a lewd act with a 14-year-old girl.

The candidate has maintained his innocence, claiming the allegations were a ploy by political opponents to keep him out of office.

Sheriff's officials have contended the arrest had nothing to do with the election and was based on claims and evidence from the girl.

Palmdale's connections to the outside world were improved in October with the opening of nearly 11 miles of carpool lanes on the Antelope Valley Freeway.

State transportation officials estimated commuters would save 30 to 40 minutes on each trip to Los Angeles by using the lanes.

The memories of veterans and loved ones were jogged when the Moving Wall, a half-size version of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., arrived for an eight-day stay at McAdam Park.

Between 20,000 and 22,000 people visited The Wall, inscribed with the names of more than 58,000 U.S. soldiers who died or disappeared in Southeast Asia between 1959 and 1975.

Toward warding off future wars, Palmdale's Boeing Co. unveiled in mid-December a pair of X-32 fighter prototypes.

The supersonic, single-engine, single-seat test models will vie with counterparts to be produced by the Lockheed Martin company's Skunk Works division, also in Palmdale.

Aerospace makes history

The winning design will be the basis for a $200 billion, 3,000plane program for the American and British armed forces.

Local officials have begun a fight to keep the production of the planes, whichever is chosen, in Palmdale rather than at Boeing's St. Louis, Mo., plant or Lockheed Martin's Forth Worth, Texas, facility.

Production of the planes would be under the largest military contract in the nation's history.

Uploaded December 27, 1999