COUNCILS TEAM UP TO BRING UNIVERSITY LANCASTER, PALMDALE TRYING TO ATTRACT A CSU CAMPUS.

Byline: JIM SKEEN Staff Writer

LANCASTER -- The city councils of Palmdale and Lancaster pledged this week to work together to help bring a four-year university to the Antelope Valley, regardless of where it is located.

In a rare joint meeting, the two councils voiced support for efforts headed up by the Antelope Valley Board of Trade to try to attract a California State University campus to the high Desert. The Board of Trade is expected to release in March a master plan for higher education, which will detail how the region will proceed with trying to bring in a campus.

At the meeting, held at the Antelope Valley Transit Authority headquarters, the councils directed their staffs to see how they could work cooperatively on the effort.

``Let's look, first of all, at getting it in the Antelope Valley, regardless of where it falls,'' said Lancaster Mayor Henry Hearns.

Lancaster Vice Mayor Ed Sileo said the discussion about locating a local university must go beyond just identifying possible sites.

``They (CSU) are looking at how many people in the community are going to graduate from K through 12 and go onto college,'' Sileo said. ``We are not doing enough there.''

Sileo pointed to the partnerships that helped bring engineering courses to the Lancaster University Center as an example of the kind of efforts the region needs to embrace and extend down through the K-12 system.

Partners involved in the Lancaster University Center include the city of Lancaster, Fresno State University, California State University Bakersfield, Antelope Valley College, the Air Force and NASA.

As the Board of Trade prepares the education master plan, two possible sites for a campus have been identified thus far -- a section of Edwards Air Force Base and property between Mojave and California City being offered by a San Diego development company. Securing a large chunk of donated land is considered a key step in trying to establish a campus.

Strata Equity Group is offering 640 acres for the campus in an area between Mojave and California City, near Highway 58. Strata owns an additional 2,000 acres in the area that could be used for a master-planned community.

Edwards also has offered the use of some of its land, a square-mile section located south of Rosamond Boulevard and west of the base's west gate.

Since at least the 1980s business and civic leaders have tried to attract a four-year university to the Antelope Valley. Over the years, higher education offerings have increased, including the creation of a satellite campus of California State University, Bakersfield.

The pledge of cooperation came at the first joint session of the two councils in more than 14 years. ``One of the key things was just to meet together and show the community we are interested in meeting together,'' Hearns said.

Palmdale Councilman Tom Lackey said the meeting had a symbolic value.

``It was a public display that both cities are interested in working together in areas of mutual concern,'' Lackey said.

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

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