CITY OKS CONTRACT FOR LAPD DRIVING CENTER.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Amid concern that Los Angeles Police Department officers aren't getting sufficient in-service training for vehicle pursuits, the city moved ahead Wednesday with plans to build a center in Granada Hills to provide it.

The Public Works Board awarded the $22.5 million contract, with its members saying the emergency vehicle and weapons training center on the site of the old Van Norman Reservoir was too important to delay and that a last-minute protest by a competing bidder was without merit.

``This board does recognize the importance and the urgency of this project,'' said Board President J.P. Ellman.

The board awarded the contract to a partnership including America Kuk Dong Inc.

LAPD facilities planner Steve Hatfield told the board that without a center, the police have been hampered in their efforts to comply with state standards for in-service drivers training.

``The Police Department is almost entirely out of compliance with in-service training standards because of the lack of facilities,'' Hatfield told the board.

Police recruits do get training in driving patrol cars on the Tarmac at Ontario Airport, but little in-service training is possible at the site, Hatfield said.

When completed, the new facility will include shooting ranges, a high-speed driving course and a mock village for training exercises.

It will be financed from a $176 million bond measure approved by voters in 1989.

The city has come under fire in recent months for failing to use police bond funds in a timely manner.

Hatfield said the complexity of the project - including the need for more than three years of environmental studies - has meant it has taken seven years to reach the stage where the contracts were awarded Wednesday.

The training facility will take a year to build on 43 acres of an undeveloped flood basin of the Los Angeles Reservoir west of the Golden State Freeway.