FAIRGROUND STICKER SHOCK HIGH BIDS HAVE OFFICIALS MULLING OPTIONS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

LANCASTER - City and Antelope Valley Fair officials are pondering their next course of action after bids for the construction of the new fairgrounds came in well over the anticipated $12 million price tag.

City and fair officials said they were surprised and disappointed that contractors' bids ranged between $14.6 million and $17.4 million. City and fair officials plan to meet with contractors next week to see how they might cut costs.

``We are analyzing what course of action we need to take,'' said City Manager Jim Gilley. ``We'll make a decision over the next month. It's going to be a collaborative effort with the fair board.''

Buildings planned for the first phase of the new fairgrounds include a new watch-and-wager satellite betting building, two main exhibit halls, a show arena, livestock barns, and a grandstand capable of handling 7,000 people.

City and fair officials plan to add a 85,000-square-foot horse arena that can be converted for other uses, including ice hockey. Last spring, California voters approved a $2.1 billion parks bond measure that specifically earmarked $4.25 million for the construction of the horse arena.

Prices were higher across the board for the entire project and there wasn't any one element of the construction plan that caused the bid numbers to be higher than anticipated, said fair manager Dan Jacobs.

``It's a setback, but we plan to move ahead,'' Jacobs said.

The city and the fair board are working to move the fairgrounds from the current 75-acre site at Division Street and Avenue I to a 135-acre site between avenues G and H, west of the Antelope Valley Freeway.

The fair board and Lancaster officials have been working since 1991 to relocate the fairgrounds from the Division Street and Avenue I site. Purchased with proceeds from a hay auction in 1938, the existing site is deemed too small and is hemmed in by development.

Under an October 1999 agreement, the city will build a new fairgrounds in exchange for receiving the existing fairgrounds. The existing fairgrounds will be bulldozed, with the exception of Challenger Hall and Yucca Center. Those two building will be retained and used for city parks and recreation programs.

City officials envision the rest of the fairgrounds will be sold for the construction of single-family homes.