Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : State Advisory Panel Backs College in Palmdale : Education: School would be built on land donated by developer who seeks OK for large adjacent projects.

A state advisory commission gave final approval Monday to plans to construct a community college campus in Palmdale, but the project still faces a major hurdle at Palmdale City Hall.

Meeting in Sacramento, the California Postsecondary Education Commission unanimously endorsed a request by Lancaster-based Antelope Valley College to build a second campus in Palmdale on a 100-acre site that businessman David P. Bushnell has offered to donate.

But that donation requires the city to approve Bushnell’s plan to build a golf course, a neighborhood shopping center and more than 1,000 houses and apartments on 440 acres adjacent to the proposed college. Nearby homeowners are protesting, saying that such dense development would destroy the rural character of the area.

Although Palmdale officials still must address this dispute over the adjacent development, Antelope Valley College President Allan Kurki said Monday’s vote in Sacramento brought the proposed campus a significant step closer to reality.

Over the past 20 years, the state Legislature has never provided money for a new college campus that was not first approved by the Postsecondary Education Commission, a panel spokesman said.

“This is really exciting,” said Kurki. “This could very well be the last entirely new site the state will be approving for some time. It almost looks like the doors are closing right behind us.”

The commission recommended that the proposed Palmdale campus, on 47th Street East, just south of Barrel Springs Road, become eligible for state funding beginning in fiscal 1996-97.

“If everything goes through, we hope to offer classes there five or six years from now,” Kurki said.

Under the current plan, the Palmdale branch would open with about 2,900 students and eventually have 10,000.

But William L. Storey, chief policy analyst for the Postsecondary Education Commission, cautioned that being eligible for funding does not mean the Palmdale campus will immediately receive start-up funds from the state.

He said many other state colleges and universities are seeking money to repair and expand their existing campuses, and the funds available are limited. “There is a very large backlog of projects,” Storey said. “The (Antelope Valley) district is going to have to get in line.”

Meanwhile, vocal homeowners are lining up against the development plan on which the college land donation hinges.

Richard S. Wells, president of the Southside Homeowners Assn., representing about 240 households in the foothills near the proposed campus, said his members want the city to greatly reduce the number of houses and apartments that Bushnell can build near the school.

Wells said many of his members live on lots that are zoned for only one house per acre, suitable for keeping horses and other livestock. Urban-type neighborhoods with apartments and small houses would not be compatible, he said.

“It would be nice to have a college in Palmdale,” Wells said. “But we’re talking about losing our rural lifestyle. That’s why we bought here.”

Representatives of the developer could not be reached for comment Monday. But at past meetings, they have suggested that the project--including the college land donation--might not “pencil out” financially if the number of houses and apartments is cut dramatically.

The Palmdale Planning Commission and the City Council are tentatively scheduled to review the Bushnell development plan early next year.