Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : 5 Car Dealers Given Reprieve in Loan Payments : Antelope Valley: The Palmdale City Council rejects a request for more advertising funds. The auto park will sell about 18 acres to Caltrans.

The five car dealers in the Antelope Valley Auto Center asked the city of Palmdale for help, again. And they got it, again.

The City Council, acting as the Community Redevelopment Agency, unanimously approved an agreement Thursday to give the auto dealers a one-year, interest-free reprieve in their repayments to the city for the $250,000 loan each received 16 months ago.

The dealers will not have to make another monthly payment on their loans--which they started repaying Jan. 1--until June 30, 1994.

The city has been willing to help out the car dealers at the 65-acre auto center, which opened about two years ago, because it is expected to generate $1 million a year in sales tax revenue once it is completed.

The latest assistance from the city is the result of the dealers’ request to Palmdale for more funds for an advertising campaign.

Under a program approved in February, 1992, the city’s Redevelopment Agency not only provided $1.25 million in loans to dealers, but contributed $1.2 million for advertising. The agency also provided $180,000 for landscape maintenance. Instead of approving more advertising money, the city told the car dealers they can skip their loan payments, without being charged interest, for one year.

In exchange, the dealers agreed to the sale of about 18 acres of auto-center property to the California State Department of Transportation.

The Redevelopment Agency earlier this month accepted a $1.5-million offer from Caltrans for the land to make way for a future freeway interchange.

Besides the land sale, the dealers agreed to have the city extend one of the auto center’s internal roadways to improve traffic flow.