AMARGOSA PLAN SHIFTING INTO HIGH GEAR '08 GROUNDBREAKING EYED.

Byline: JIM SKEEN Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- Hoping to break ground early next year on a landmark retail and entertainment complex, city officials are scrambling to complete planning and environmental documents for the Amargosa Creek project by late summer.

The goal is to set the stage for developers to create a signature center that will address calls by residents for more shopping and entertainment opportunities.

Before that can happen, however, officials need to complete the specific plan, which guides the project's development; an environmental impact report; and a financial analysis that will consider market viability and the cost of infrastructure improvements.

City officials hope to complete the financial study in May, the EIR report in July and the specific plan in August.

A draft environmental report is scheduled for completion by April 20.

``It's a pretty ambitious schedule,'' said Brian Ludicke, Lancaster's director of community development. ``We've committed to the stakeholders and the council to this time frame.''

One of the first steps in the EIR process is to hold a scoping meeting, which is scheduled for 6 to 8 Thursday night at City Hall, 44933 Fern Ave.

give us the topics that they think need to be studied as part of this EIR project,'' Ludicke said.

The public will have opportunities to provide input on the project at various stages, said Anne Aldrich, the city's communications manager. After the scoping meeting, the next two opportunities for public comment will be a study session for the Planning Commission on March 12 and with the release of the draft EIR.

The documents will use as a starting point a design concept hammered out during a series of meetings with city officials and the public. The chosen concept features an east-west ``Main Street'' geared toward strolling shoppers that intersects with a north-south line of shops.

The design concept features more than 775,000 square feet of shopping space, two possible locations for hotels, a main central plaza for community gatherings and a secondary plaza on the eastern end.

The 150-acre project site is bounded roughly by Avenues K-8 and L and by Fifth and 10th streets west.

The project area also includes about 40 acres for medical facilities.

The earliest construction could begin is early 2008. City officials expect the shopping center to evolve over several years, much in the same way as the Antelope Valley Mall in Palmdale.

james.skeen(at)dailynews

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