ANTELOPE VALLEY COLLEGE STARTS WORK ON ATHLETICS COMPLEX.

Byline: JIM SKEEN

Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- Antelope Valley College broke ground Tuesday for a $29.9 million west campus expansion that will create an athletics complex that officials said will be among the best in the state.

Using money from a $139 million bond measure passed in 2004, Antelope Valley College is building a baseball stadium, two soccer fields, storm drains and other improvements, and new parking lots. The project will also include a $2.8 million renovation of the college's aging Marauder Stadium and improvements to make that portion of the campus more accessible to the handicapped.

"This is what we all worked for in 2004 -- to begin to expand this campus," said AVC President Jackie Fisher. "This is the start of something spectacular."

The work will include a renovation of the softball field; and the addition of a 300-seat baseball stadium, football and soccer practice fields, a field for track and field events and a parking lot.

An east-west concourse is planned to run between the stadiums, providing access for spectators and a connection to the rest of the college.

The work will also include a roadway running north from Avenue K along the western side of the athletics fields and a trail around the practice fields for walkers and joggers.

The college is in discussions with the city about a possible joint-use agreement that would allow the fields to be used for city programs when not in use by the college.

"We're taking the existing facilities and making them into a true athletic complex," said Newton Chelette, the college's athletic director. "It's definitely going to be a heavily used facility that will not only support the college, but the community."

The soccer and practice fields will be ready in spring of 2008. Work on Marauder Stadium will begin after the last football game this fall and should take about a year to complete.

The baseball stadium will be finished at about the same time as the football stadium.

"We've been doing a lot of planning work," said Doug Jensen, the college's director of planning and campus development, of the two years since the passage of Measure R. "This is the part that's exciting. It's going to be first class."

Two major events are already planned for the new facilities -- a 2009 track and field championship featuring Southern California community colleges and a state championship in track and field for the community college system.

The $139 million Measure R is funding construction aimed at updating the Lancaster campus, which has several buildings more than 40 years old, and, possibly, the initial development of a Palmdale campus. The overhaul is needed, college officials said, to accommodate enrollment expected nearly to double to more than 23,000 students by the year 2015.

At the Lancaster campus, the construction funded by Measure R will provide 127,436 square feet of lab space, 30,817 square feet of lecture room space for students and 82,767 square feet of office and support space.

The projects will provide room to accommodate more than 9,000 full-time students. The additional attendance will provide $39 million in revenue.

AVC officials are also working on plans for a Palmdale campus. Plans to include a 70-acre campus as part of a master-planned housing development near 37th Street East and Avenue V stalled when the developer backed out.

College officials said they haven't given up on that site, but have been exploring another 70-acre property on the east side of Palmdale.

james.skeen@dailynews

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Photo:

Antelope Valley College President Jackie Fisher, left, and Athletic Director Newton Chelette look at the area of the new expansion. Using money from a $139 million bond measure, the school is building a baseball stadium, two soccer fields, storm drains and other improvements.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer