COSTS RISE, BUT VET HOMES STILL ON TRACK LANCASTER BUILDING SLATED TO OPEN BY '09.Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer LANCASTER - A project to build three veterans homes, including a long-awaited one in Lancaster, remains on track for a 2007 groundbreaking, but cost estimates have risen by $34.7 million. Increased construction costs have upped the latest estimate for the project to $263.8 million. Two-thirds of the construction costs are to be picked up by the federal government with the rest picked up by the state. ``We're all concerned with the costs, but we're within our federal and state budget authority,'' said Robert Sleppy, chief of the environmental services The various combinations of scientific, technical, and advisory activities (including modification processes, i.e., the influence of manmade and natural factors) required to acquire, produce, and supply information on the past, present, and future states of space, atmospheric, section of the state's Department of General Services. Plans call for construction on the three homes - one each in Lancaster, Saticoy and West Los Angeles
The project has completed a final environmental impact report, and earlier this month the state public works public works pl.n. Construction projects, such as highways or dams, financed by public funds and constructed by a government for the benefit or use of the general public. Noun 1. board approved preliminary plans for the project and the new cost estimate. That approval allows work on the construction plans to continue. Those plans should be finished either late this year or in early 2007. ``That's a watershed watershed, elevation or divide separating the catchment area, or drainage basin, of one river system or group of river systems from another system or group of systems. The term is also often used synonymously with drainage basin. moment that says you are on the path of getting that project out to bid,'' Sleppy said. Supporters of the Lancaster home have worked for more than 14 years to bring the facility to the Antelope Valley This article is about the Los Angeles County region. For the census-designated place in Wyoming, see Antelope Valley-Crestview, Wyoming. The Antelope Valley . Tom Craft, a retired Navy officer and chairman of the citizens support committee for the Lancaster home, said he is disappointed that the home hasn't been built sooner. However, he is pleased that the state has kept the project on track in recent months. ``We won't save any lives, but we will make their lives more comfortable and make life more comfortable for the spouses,'' Craft said of the home. The Lancaster home will be built on a 30-acre site, donated do·nate v. do·nat·ed, do·nat·ing, do·nates v.tr. To present as a gift to a fund or cause; contribute. v.intr. To make a contribution to a fund or cause. by the city, at Avenue I and 30th Street West. The Lancaster home will be named after the late state Sen. W.J. ``Pete'' Knight, a record-setting test pilot and a combat veteran. The homes in Lancaster and in Saticoy will each have 60 beds and adult day-care centers day-care center: see day nursery. capable of handling 50 clients. Those two homes will have the same floor plan - two residential wings, the 50-person adult day-care wing, and a services and administration wing surrounding a center courtyard. At 60 beds, the Lancaster home is much smaller than the original 400 beds envisioned in the mid-1990s, before years of delays. The design for the home will be done to allow for expansion if there is a demand for it and there is money to finance it. The West Los Angeles home will have convalescent con·va·les·cent adj. Relating to convalescence. n. A person who is recovering from an illness, an injury, or a surgical operation. convalescent 1. pertaining to or characterized by convalescence. 2. hospital wards for veterans, including a ward for veterans with dementia dementia (dĭmĕn`shə) [Lat.,=being out of the mind], progressive deterioration of intellectual faculties resulting in apathy, confusion, and stupor. In the 17th cent. , plus suites for veterans who don't need hospital care. Jim Skeen, (661) 267-5743 james.skeen(at)dailynews.com |
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