It will be five years before the World Trade Center memorial opens, and now there is no place around ground zero - with the possible exception of St. Paul's Chapel - where visitors, neighbors, survivors and victims' families can gather to mourn, to share and to learn.This leaves first-time pilgrims especially disoriented, facing a steel fence with almost no idea of what they are looking at or which buildings stood where, unless they fall in with a self-appointed guide or consult information panels on the fence.

Yesterday, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation extended its support - but not any money so far - to the Tribute Visitors Center being planned for a storefront at 120 Liberty Street, opposite ground zero and next to Ladder Company 10 and Engine Company 10.

"Visitors are now looking at an empty construction site," said Lee Ielpi, vice president of the September 11th Families Association, which is organizing the center. "Our goal is to create a memorable experience by connecting visitors with the 9/11 community." Mr. Ielpi's son, Jonathan, a firefighter, died in the attack. The association's president, Marian Fontana, lost her husband, Dave, a lieutenant in the Fire Department.

Gov. George E. Pataki said, in a statement issued by his office, "When Lee Ielpi approached me about the idea, I agreed to it immediately, because there needs to be an interim place of solace and reflection for families and survivors."

Besides displaying information about the attacks of 2001 and 1993, the center could provide docents to guide visitors around the site and would offer family members a place to meet, said Kevin M. Rampe, the development corporation president.

But Mr. Rampe told the board that the association needed to do "much more work" on organizingbefore it could be considered eligible for financing. The corporation might provide up to $3 million, to match money raised from other sources.

At yesterday's meeting, the board approved three contracts in connection with the impending dismantling of the former Deutsche Bank building at 130 Liberty Street, which it acquired last week, and approved the extension of its own lease at 1 Liberty Plaza through 2010, indicating that the agency intends to be in business quite a while.

Mr. Rampe and Deputy Mayor Daniel L. Doctoroff, a board member, also responded to a new assessment of the Lower Manhattan planning process by the Regional Plan Association, which questioned the state's commitment to accommodate 10 million square feet of office space on the trade center site.
"The high office-space vacancy rate and uncertain market outlook argues for a further diversification of the program, by designating buildings currently planned for office space to civic, cultural, hotel, housing or other uses," the group said.

Mr. Doctoroff said, "I don't know at the end of the day whether 10 million is the right number or 8 million or 12." But he added that the city had estimated a need for 68 million square feet of new office space between 2005 and 2025. With 10 million square feet in Lower Manhattan, he said, "you're really only filling a small part of that need."

Later, another civic group, New York New Visions, criticized the lack of a plan for the underground infrastructure at the site and the absence of design guidelines, saying the redevelopment might turn into "an uncoordinated mishmash."

Mr. Rampe replied, "All it says is that we should be working on the things we are working on right now." He said the master plan was not being diluted in any way.

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