LANCASTER OFFICIAL SUGGESTS FAMILY CENTER.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

With the region's economy on the upswing, Lancaster Councilman Jim Jeffra thinks the Antelope Valley is ready to consider building a family center that would offer recreation, including ice skating, education and counseling programs.

Jeffra is suggesting the Antelope Valley consider erecting a center that would include two ice-skating surfaces, an Olympic-sized pool and a gymnasium. The center, as Jeffra envisions it, would include programs for senior citizens, counseling and education programs and possibly even job-training programs.

The center would cost about $35 million, Jeffra estimates. To finance it, voters throughout the Antelope Valley - including those in southern Kern County - would be asked to approve a tax of about $25 to $30 a year.

``I want to see what the response is going to be, then do a follow-up later with our council and the Palmdale council,'' Jeffra said. ``I would like to hear what everybody thinks.''

Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford was cool to the idea, stating he didn't believe voters would approve such a tax. There is also a poor track record of intercity cooperation in past proposals for joint recreation projects, Ledford said.

``Look what happened with the other `centrally located' projects - the fairgrounds, the baseball stadium. What's left? The big-ticket item they can't afford. It doesn't breed a lot of trust,'' Ledford said.

Jeffra said he talked about such a center when he served on the Lancaster School District board in the early 1990s, but the timing wasn't right because of the economy.

In November 1992, voters approved a $540 million tax measure that Antelope Valley voters believed was to include $4.6 million for a sports complex.

However, after the election, proponents of the measure said a Castaic sports complex had been misidentified as the Antelope Valley complex earmarked for the funds.

If there is interest, the first step would be to conduct a survey to gauge support. Such a survey could be funded jointly by Lancaster, Palmdale and Los Angeles County, Jeffra said.

If the project would to go forward, Jeffra said he would like to see the center centrally located, perhaps at Avenue M and 10th Street West.

Jeffra said he envisions the center being governed by a seven-member board whose members would be appointed by the city councils of Palmdale and Lancaster and by other political districts, perhaps including the state assembly and senate representatives and the region's congressional representative.