Lompoc council members heralded a proposal to develop the California Space Center on city property, saying they believe they can fast-track the project’s environmental reviews due to similar studies done for nearby projects.
Four of five Lompoc City Council members showed up Friday morning at the California Space Authority office in Santa Maria for a press conference to announce plans for the $220 million space center’s new home.
“We all came here to demonstrate that we are, as a council, 100 percent unified in moving this project forward with the space authority,” said Lompoc Mayor John Linn, with council members Cecilia Martner, Bob Lingl and Dirk Starbuck standing nearby. Councilwoman Ashley Costa couldn’t attend because she was working, Linn said.
“We couldn’t be more enthusiastic and we’re working diligently to make it come to fruition as rapidly as possible,” Linn added. “We do have some great advantages in that a lot of environmental work has been done on this site for other projects. We’re just looking at ways to make it happen for them and make all of our dreams come true for the city of Lompoc and for the Central Coast.”
The education and tourist facility had been proposed for 71 acres of Vandenberg Air Force Base off Highway 1. However, CSA officials recently abandoned those plans after the Air Force determined that as a “private project” the space center needed to follow county land-use permitting and zoning and other regulations.
That process would take three years, optimistically, said CSA Executive Director Andrea Seastrand.
“When one door closes, it’s amazing another opens,” Seastrand said, calling the last two weeks a whirlwind journey as the organization changed directions after seven years of trying to secure the military site.
In recent weeks, CSA’s Board of Directors agreed to further explore putting the project on 82 acres of city land adjacent to the Hancock College Lompoc Valley Center. Lompoc City Council discussed the issue in closed session March 15 and March 21.
That property once was eyed as the home to the defunct Western Spaceport Museum and Science Center, another ambitious project that was conceived during the West Coast space shuttle era and canceled in the 1990s. The quitclaim deed for that land’s handover from the Army to the city of Lompoc in 1984 hangs in City Hall, Linn noted.
“Not only are we bringing the California Space Authority’s dream to fruition but we’re bringing the dream of that first group from the ’80s who spent so much time and effort to bring this to reality, so we’re going to get that double dip,” Linn said.
Unlike the Vandenberg land, the Lompoc site already has needed utilities so that will provide some cost savings, officials said.
By early April, both sides hope to ink an “exclusive negotiating agreement.” A final lease can’t be signed until the California Environmental Quality Act process is completed, officials said.
“We do believe that we will be able to use some of the work we had done at the other site — for example, the traffic study — so not all of the time that we spent will in fact have been lost,” said Janice Dunn, CSA’s deputy director.
Environmental studies conducted in connection with a recently added bike path, the new Hancock College police and fire academy, a commercial project across Highway 1 and the city’s General Plan update all should help speed up the process for the space center, officials said.
A city consultant believes that with those reports completed, much of the groundwork for the space center’s environmental impact study has been done, Linn said.
“Another thing that is serendipitous is right now there aren’t a lot of projects going on so there are lot of people looking for work, so that helped us,” Linn said.
The space center is envisioned as an educational and tourism attraction that also will have office space. A launch viewing site and large theater screen also are proposed.
“The main purpose of the California Space Center is to inspire our young people and what better way than to showcase the goings-on at Vandenberg Air Force Base,” Seastrand said, adding they also hope to promote the state’s vast involvement in aerospace programs.
The new location means the education program could begin sooner, using already existing Hancock College facilities, CSA officials said.
The project could bring 1,700 jobs and attract up to 500,000 visitors annually, according to a CSA consultant.
CSA officials Friday declined to estimate when the project might be completed. While a new project estimate isn’t available, CSA intends to fund the first phase with construction loans and grants and then would issue bonds to pay for the second and third phases.
So far, CSA officials have gathered $200,000 for the project, through commitments from board members and other officials. Some $2.5 million had been spent for the project and its original location, officials estimated.
