2 JOB-CREATING OPERATIONS EYED PRIVATE-PUBLIC PARTNERSHIPS CONSIDERED.

Byline: JIM SKEEN Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- A trash-to-energy plant and a rail-to-truck transfer station are ideas under consideration by city officials to create jobs and help spur economic development.

In their annual breakfast meeting with Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, city officials said they were looking at the two ideas, calling it a case of ``thinking out loud.'' Both concepts would involve public-private partnerships as well as cooperation between the city and county governments.

The trash-to-energy idea is similar to an operation that has been under way in the city of Commerce since the late 1980s. In the Commerce operation, the plant burns an average of 360 tons of trash per day and generates 10 megawatts of electricity.

The Commerce plant receives an average of 120 truck deliveries a day, according to the Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts.

``It (a Lancaster project) would need rail access,'' said Randy Williams, the city's public-works director.

``We won't want that additional truck traffic.''

City Manager Bob LaSala said such a project would require ``hundreds of millions of dollars'' and as much as 10 years to build.

There are more than 100 waste-to-energy plants in the United States. About 14 percent of trash is burned in such plants, according to the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the Department of Energy.

The rail-to-truck transfer station would require about 500 to 600 acres. The concept is for goods arriving at the Port of Los Angeles to be loaded on railroad cars for the trip to Lancaster, then transferred to trucks for shipment throughout the country.

``It would be a major operation that would bring jobs to the area,'' Williams said.

Antonovich was supportive of the concept.

``It would relieve truck traffic on the 210 and 710 freeways,'' he said.

In other issues, Antonovich and his staff said they are exploring the possibility of asking voters again to approve a flood-control district.

Last November, a proposed valley-flood-control ballot measure was rejected by voters, while in a separate vote, Quartz Hill residents rejected a drainage assessment district that would have charged Quartz Hill homeowners $45 to $94 a year.

No decisions have been made about when a new election would be held or whether it will be for a Quartz Hill-only district or a valleywide district.

Lancaster officials also asked for the supervisor's assistance in seeking expanded operations of the Antelope Valley courthouse, which is named after Antonovich. LaSala said the building's 15 courtrooms are packed and that as many as six more courtrooms are needed.

The $109 million courthouse was built with the possibility of expansion in mind.

Antonovich said courthouse expansion is under the control of state lawmakers.

``We'll do jawboning at our level to get their attention, but we need the state legislators there when the budget is being made,'' Antonovich said.

Antonovich also agreed with a city request to begin forming a committee comprising Lancaster, Palmdale and county officials to evaluate county services in the region and look for opportunities for improvements.

james.skeen@dailynews

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