CITY PLANS FLOOD CHANNEL CONSTRUCTION, SET TO BEGIN THIS FALL, WILL AID BUSINESS PARK DEVELOPMENT.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Construction will begin this fall on a $3.4 million flood- control channel to contain usually dry Amargosa Creek and free up city land for industrial development.

Granite Construction was awarded a city contract to build the channel along the western border of the Antelope Valley Country Club golf course, diverting Amargosa Creek away from an area targeted for large-scale industry.

The work will take approximately three to four months to complete, said Steve Williams, Palmdale's director of public works. The channel will run from the Antelope Valley Freeway, where an existing drain ends, to Avenue O.

The project will benefit an area known as the Fairway Business Park, located south of Avenue O between 7th Street West and Division Street. The area, covering 120 acres, was acquired by the city's redevelopment agency in 1999 for the purpose of attracting large employers.

The channel will eliminate the need for companies to raise buildings above the natural flood plain, city officials said.

``The project allows us to sell additional land,'' said Danny Roberts, assistant director of the redevelopment agency. ``I have six to eight companies lined up to go in there, contingent upon the work getting done.''

Earlier this year, U.S. Pole Co. became the first company to start operations in the business park. The company, which relocated from Sun Valley, built a $4 million, 100,000-square-foot manufacturing plant on 11.5 acres at Avenue O and 7th Street West.

In 1999, the City Council approved a $1 million incentive package to bring U.S. Pole, and its work force of about 180 workers, to Palmdale. The money was used to buy the land and to install streets, sewers and other improvements around the company site.