DEAL PLEDGED FOR TRADE ZONE; CUSTOMS OFFICIAL MEDIATES LANCASTER-PALMDALE DISPUTE.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

A U.S. Customs official pledged Tuesday to find a way to extend foreign trade zone benefits to Lancaster without putting the city's interests under the management of Palmdale's zone.

The compromise was proposed after officials of the two cities clashed at Lancaster City Hall during a public hearing conducted by Dennis Puccinelli, acting director of the U.S. Customs Foreign Trade Zones Board.

Visiting the Antelope Valley, he found himself in the role of mediator after Lancaster officials criticized Palmdale's handling of its foreign trade zone and Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford criticized Lancaster officials for not working with his city to improve and expand a single zone, rather than try to create another in the same region.

The dispute was aired at the hearing on Lancaster's application to create and get federal recognition of its own foreign trade zone.

``We can work out an arrangement so one (city) is not subordinate to another,'' Puccinelli said. ``I'm willing to work with both of you so this can go forward. It would be much quicker for us if we could work something out.''

Lancaster applied to have 3,200 acres designated as a foreign trade zone. To promote international trade, the federal government can reduce, defer or eliminate customs fees on foreign-made materials used in a trade zone to manufacture products intended for export.

Lancaster officials said they applied for their own zone rather than approach Palmdale to expand its zone because they did not want to place Lancaster businesses under Palmdale's control.

``We have no confidence in Palmdale's ability to run its zone,'' said Stafford Parker, Lancaster's redevelopment director. ``We have no confidence in Palmdale's ability to market its zone.''

Palmdale Mayor Ledford said Lancaster officials should have applied for a subzone and worked with his city.

Palmdale's zone, which covers 1,300 acres, was established in 1992 but has had no users since 1996.

``The offer is there for cooperation,'' Ledford said. ``We've expressed a willingness to work on a regional basis.''

He called the public dispute a blow to efforts for regional cooperation in attracting business and promoting business expansion.

``To trash us is not a good way to represent our region,'' Ledford said. ``This probably did more to set us back than to set us forward.''

Customs officials said competing jurisdictions elsewhere have been able to work out a management structure that allows each one to run its own territory within a combined foreign trade zone. Four counties in Ohio have worked out such a structure for a single zone, they said.

``That's the best way to go,'' Lancaster Mayor Frank Roberts said.

Lancaster's application includes 3,040 acres on and south of Edwards Air Force Base.

Lancaster is pitching the area as a launch site for VentureStar, a reusable spaceship being developed by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in Palmdale. Lancaster officials envision their community as a spaceport with routine VentureStar flights delivering satellites into space for paying customers from all over the world.

About 160 acres cited in Lancaster's application is for the Lancaster Business Park.

Palmdale's 1,300-acre zone is mostly west of Air Force Plant 42. At one point two businesses used the zone benefits, but none does now.

Anderson-Barrows, a plumbing parts manufacturer, stopped using imported parts because of concerns about their quality, and a clothing manufacturer moved its international business to Long Beach.