1,000 TO ATTEND NEW COLLEGE SITE.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

LANCASTER - With early enrollment figures running strong, Antelope Valley College officials expect more than 1,000 students at their new Palmdale site when it debuts next month.

So far, more than 820 have signed up for courses at the college's new south valley site in Palmdale. Of that number, 700 plan to take classes at both the new site and the Lancaster campus and 120 want to take courses only in Palmdale.

``That's pretty good for opening a new location,'' said college district spokesman Steve Standerfer. ``It's a great site. For what we're trying to do in establishing a presence in the south valley, that site is ideal.''

The district is using the former Boeing recreation center near Avenue P and 30th Street East as an interim Palmdale campus, where 64 courses will be offered starting in August.

Although the college district has held courses at Palmdale High School, this will be the first time it has offered courses at a building of its own outside the Lancaster campus.

The 47,000-square-foot building has nine rooms that can be used as classrooms - each big enough for 35 to 44 people.

The site also has a gymnasium, four tennis courts, a fitness center, two lighted softball fields, a sand volleyball court and four handball courts, although two of those courts sustained water damage from a leaking roof.

The college district is subleasing the building from SR Technics, an aircraft modification company that holds the lease on it and other nearby facilities from Los Angeles World Airports. SR Technics is letting the college use the building for $10 a year for three years, with options for extensions.

Initial course offerings at the Palmdale site will include general education courses, such as math, English, sociology and history; classes in food preparation, physical education and dance; and training for work as a medical office assistant.

College officials hope eventually to establish a permanent 80-acre campus as part of a master-planned housing development proposed on 540 acres south of Barrel Springs Road between 37th and 47th streets east. Palmdale and college officials have been working on the plans for several years with developer David Bushnell.

Fall registration by phone and the Internet will run through Aug. 25.

Meanwhile, Antelope Valley College officials are reporting a 7.2 percent increase in summer attendance. The student head count this summer stands at 7,251, up from 6,760 last summer.

The increase was attributed to the continuing growth of the Antelope Valley and the influx of students dubbed ``Tidal Wave 2'' -referring to children of the baby-boom generation.