INTERIM ARMORY AWAITS OK COUNCIL TO REVIEW FOX FIELD CENTER PLAN.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

LANCASTER - In the first step toward establishing a $6.8 million National Guard armory in Lancaster, the city is planning to provide a five-acre site next to Fox Field for an interim readiness center.

Under a proposed agreement, subject to City Council approval at a scheduled vote Tuesday night, Lancaster would provide five acres at the southwest corner of Barnes Avenue and 45th Street West for a token fee of $1.

The land would be used by the National Guard as an interim readiness center for a year to 18 months until the permanent armory could be built on property adjacent to the interim site.

``The property would be used primarily as administrative offices for full-time staff and recruiters and for unit assembly for part-time reservists during designated training weekends,'' Stafford Parker, the city's redevelopment agency director, wrote to the City Council.

The interim site would include 7,800 to 10,000 square feet of modular building space for offices, an assembly area, storage rooms, restrooms and showers. Three acres would be used for military vehicle parking.

National Guard officials believe they could have the interim site ready this summer.

Plans for the permanent facilities call for a 62,000-square-foot armory for the 170-member 756th Transportation Company, which is now being formed, and a 206-man quartermaster company.

There would be a small cadre of full-time workers at the armory. The rest of the 756th and the quartermaster personnel would be traditional ``weekend warriors'' who serve one weekend a month and a two-week annual tour of duty, unless their units are called up for extended active duty.

The armory would house a satellite learning center, where students could participate in classes via television or two-way video hookups.

The federal government has earmarked $4.5 million for the project and state officials have allocated $2.3 million in the upcoming budget to finance the difference.

The armory will be located on 120 acres east of 50th Street West and north of Avenue G, south of the Fox Field runways. The city of Lancaster paid Los Angeles County $1.38 million for the property in 2000.