BIOTECH SITE IN WORKS AT PIERCE; PARK COULD PROVIDE NEEDED REVENUE, JOBS.

Byline: Sharline Chiang Daily News Staff Writer

Pierce College and biotechnology industry leaders are working to create a biotech park on 60 acres of ballfields and parking lots at Victory Boulevard and Winnetka Avenue, an industry spokesman said Wednesday.

The park could generate $1.6 million a year for the cash-strapped college and offer educational tie-ins to the agriculture, biology, chemistry and engineering departments, said Ahmed Enany, executive director of the downtown-based Southern California Biomedical Council.

The park could house three or four research and development companies, which would employ about 2,000 people.

``This is a precious piece of land and it ought to be developed,'' Enany said. ``The added benefit is to the community . . . because it strengthens the educational mission of the campus.''

Carmelita Thomas, vice president of academic affairs, confirmed that biotech industry leaders are interested in Pierce College.

``There have been several different interests that have contacted us,'' she said. ``I really cannot give any information.''

Thomas is in charge of college affairs while President Bing Inocencio is in the Philippines on bereavement leave.

A biotechnology park is just one fund-raising alternative being considered by Pierce. A separate project to turn part of Pierce's farm at Victory and De Soto Avenue into a golf course or other moneymaking venture is under way.

The college received permission Sept. 9 from the Los Angeles Community College District board to issue requests for proposals to lease 240 acres of open space.

Enany said his council approached Pierce administrators in July with a proposal similar to the one that resulted in Alfred Mann's biotech company MiniMed leasing and setting up headquarters at California State University, Northridge's North Campus. Since then, the two sides have met about five times, he said.

The biotech industry - the state's third-largest behind entertainment/multimedia and technology - is booming, and companies are hungry for land in the San Fernando Valley, Enany said.

He said there are as yet no companies to name, since planning is still informal. ``There's nothing written at all. These are just ideas being tossed in,'' Enany said.

But some of Pierce's critics already are voicing skepticism.

Gordon Murley, president of the Woodland Hills Homeowners Association, suspects public-private ventures result in lip service, not real educational benefits.

He said biotech companies should detail exactly how many college students will receive internships and jobs.

``How many interns are you going to have - one or two?'' he asked. ``What is the company going to do to improve the quality of education on campus?''

Enany said if the plan comes through, the council would work closely with the community to help address concerns. ``This project is not going to fly if the community says, No, we don't want this industry here,'' he said.

CSUN's 28-acre biotech park plan won public favor relatively quickly, Enany said. The council first approached CSUN at the end of September 1997, and the MiniMed project held a groundbreaking ceremony in July. That project is expected to bring CSUN about $800,000 per year in lease revenues.

Enany said a biotech park at Pierce would involve relocating a baseball field. A child-care center open to the public and operated jointly by Pierce and the biotech companies also would be created, he said.