VETERANS HOME STILL ON COURSE OPENING SET FOR LATE 2008.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

LANCASTER - A long-stalled state veterans home remains on schedule for construction - beginning in mid-2007 - and is slated to open in December 2008, state officials said Monday.

During a meeting of the California Veterans Board in Lancaster, state officials said they were on schedule to build veterans homes in Lancaster, Ventura County and West Los Angeles.

``We are keeping our shoulder to the wheel,'' said Veterans Affairs Department Secretary Thomas Johnson. ``We are on target.''

An artist's concept of the Lancaster home proposed for Avenue I and 30th Street West shows a 60-bed complex with four wings - two residential wings, the 50-person adult day-care wing, and a services and administration wing - surrounding a center courtyard.

The home would have two-bedroom suites rather than the four-bay rooms of other state homes, said Robert Sleppy, chief of the environmental services section of the state's Department of General Services.

``It's a private, but not too private, arrangement,'' Sleppy said.

The 30-acre site, donated by the city, is capable of handling an expansion. The first expansion, if needed, would be a mirror image of the first home, adjoining immediately to the north. A third complex could be built at the far northeast corner.

A draft of the environmental impact report, which covers all three sites in one document, should go before the public in late September.

Tom Craft, a retired Navy officer and chairman of the citizens support committee for the Lancaster home, said he and other veterans were disappointed at the slow pace. However, Craft said, he believed that state officials are moving as fast as they can.

``I spend a lot of time telling people not to get discouraged,'' Craft said. ``It's the government, and the government is slow.''

First proposed in 1991, the Lancaster home for years was delayed by opposition from former Gov. Gray Davis.

Construction is now scheduled to begin by July 2007, and the Lancaster and Ventura County facilities are to be be completed the following year. The larger West Los Angeles home is slated to be completed in 2009.

The homes in Lancaster and in Saticoy in Ventura County will each have 60 beds and adult day-care centers capable of handling 50 clients.

The West Los Angeles home will have convalescent hospital wards for veterans, including a ward for veterans with dementia, plus suites for veterans who don't need hospital care.

The three homes will have a combined cost of $154 million. The construction will be financed with federal aid plus money from a $50 million veterans-home bond approved by California voters in 2000.

At 60 beds, the Lancaster home is much smaller than the original 400 beds envisioned in the mid-1990s, before years of delays. The design for the home will be done to allow for expansion to 400 beds if there is a demand for it and there is money to finance it.

``We've got 400 people on a waiting list for 60 beds,'' Craft said. ``Let's get it filled and say we're ready for expansion.''

The Lancaster home will be named after the late state senator W.J. ``Pete'' Knight, a record-setting test pilot and a combat veteran.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Knight was being honored for his lifelong contributions to the military, his public service and his devotion to fellow veterans.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com