PANEL BACKS LAPD TEMPORARY FACILITY.

Byline: - Harrison Sheppard

A City Council committee recommended Wednesday the city buy a new building to serve as a temporary facility for Los Angeles police headquarters while a permanent replacement for Parker Center is being built.

City officials want to buy a building rather than lease space because they hope to use the facility for other city departments after the LAPD moves out of the cramped, decrepit building and into its new home.

``We would hope to be back with some sort of deal in 30 days, maybe less, maybe a little more,'' said Chief Legislative Analyst Ron Deaton. ``Once having done that, to get the police department completely out of Parker Center, the dates have varied from I think an overly ambitious 90 days to probably more realistically someplace in the 18-to-20-month period of time if we really put the heat to it.''

Buying the building for temporary use would cost about $2 million annually in the first five years, including relocation and improvement costs. After the LAPD shifts to its new home and other city departments move in, the city would save about $8 million a year in leasing costs now spent by those other departments, officials said.

Officials are looking for temporary buildings in the 450,000- to 500,000- square-foot range, with 323,000 square feet going to the police and the rest to other city departments. The new police headquarters could be in the 350,000- to 500,000-square-foot range, and cost $250 million to $300 million to build. The recommendation from the Information Technology and General Services Committee, for city officials to negotiate the deal for a temporary police location, will be forwarded to the full City Council next week.

The ITGS committee is chaired by former police chief and now Councilman Bernard Parks and one of its members is Councilman Dennis Zine, a retired LAPD sergeant and union official who was highly critical of Parks during his tenure as chief. This was their first committee meeting together, but the two have pledged to work together and there was no sign of strife at the meeting.