A.V. INCLUDED IN MILITARY BILL.

Byline: Jim Skeen  Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - A military construction appropriations bill hammered out by House and Senate negotiators includes $22 million for projects at Edwards Air Force Base and $4.5 million for an Army National Guard armory in Lancaster.

The Antelope Valley projects were included in the military construction bill that emerged from the conference between congressional negotiators ironing out differences in their respective bills. The House of Representatives approved the recrafted bill Wednesday and Senate approval is expected soon.

The bill provides $4.5 million toward a $6 million project to build a 62,000-square-foot armory for the 170-member 756th Transportation Company, which is now being formed. The armory also would house a satellite learning center, where students could participate in classes via television or two-way hookups.

Lancaster and California National Guard officials have been discussing the proposal but have not disclosed what sites are being considered.

``We're still working it,'' said Lancaster City Manager Jim Gilley.

There would be a small cadre of full-time workers at the armory. The rest of the new 756th would be traditional ``weekend warriors'' who serve one weekend a month and a two-week annual tour of duty, unless their unit is called up for extended active duty.

The new company will be part of the 49th Combat Support Command, activated in February 2000 as a result of manpower needs from the Army's overseas deployments. Among the assignments the 6,000-member 49th has handled are overseas deployments to Ukraine as part of an assistance program.

For Edwards, the bill includes $12 million to build a consolidated support facility - what Edwards officials call a ``one-stop shop'' - for a number of administrative offices and personnel support functions now scattered in five locations across the base.

The 49,000-square-foot building would house the administrative offices of the 95th Air Base Wing, both military and civilian personnel offices, the office that handles identification and vehicle passes, and the offices of the Support Management Group, which oversees a variety of functions, including security police service.

Base officials say the new building would save more than $500,000 a year in maintenance, utility and other costs required for the offices now housed in four 1950s-built buildings and one trailer.

The bill also includes $5 million for the renovation and expansion of an air traffic control building on Edwards. The Air Force plans to add 7,788 square feet to the 18,900-square-foot building that is 40 years old and is becoming more difficult to maintain.

The bill includes another $5 million for a base-operations facility. The existing building is both too old, more than 40 years old, and too small at just over 12,000 square feet.

Edwards plans to build a 21,000-square-foot base operations building at a cost of $5.9 million.

Work on the Edwards buildings would start in the federal fiscal year that will begin Oct. 1. The consolidated support facility is expected to be completed in the 12-month period that will end Sept. 30, 2004, and renovation of the air traffic control facility would be completed in the next 12-month period.

Work on the base operations building is listed for 2006.