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ROME, N.Y. - It used to be home to bomb-toting Cold War B-52s. This summer, the former Griffiss Air Force Base will be the scene for three days of peace, love and music as it hosts the 30th anniversary of Woodstock.

As many as 300,000 people are expected to attend the music festival at the decommissioned air base July 23-25. City officials and Woodstock '99 organizers struck a preliminary agreement Thursday.

No acts have been lined up yet for the event, said Michael Lang of Woodstock Ventures.

While some residents were skeptical about turning their city into a supersized party, Mayor Joe Griffo heralded the economic benefits and said he was confident law enforcement and traffic officials would make Woodstock '99 work.

Griffo said organizers have guaranteed the city at least $1 million. He added that the three-day show would double the population of Oneida County and could inject as much as $30 million into the local economy.

Since the original Woodstock in 1969, there have been several revivals of the concert that riveted the attention of the country and became the symbol of a generation.

Woodstock '99 would be similar to the 25th anniversary concert in 1994 that attracted 350,000 people to Saugerties, N.Y., near the original site of the landmark concert, Lang said. Among the groups that played in Saugerties were Green Day, Aerosmith, Nine Inch Nails, Melissa Etheridge and Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Woodstock Ventures had been interested in returning to Saugerties but when the crowds receded, the 25th anniversary concert left the little town with a pot of money, a pile of garbage and some lingering resentment.

This year, residents threatened to sue to stop the show and after the town asked for $150,000 in permit fees, concert organizers decided to look for another location.

Shifting locations, after all, is a Woodstock tradition. Promoters of the original 1969 concert tried to bring it to several locales before finally getting permission to have the Who, Jimi Hendrix and dozens of other artists perform on Max Yasgur's farm in Bethel, N.Y.

When Griffiss closed five years ago, it robbed the local community of more than 5,000 jobs and left a gaping hole in the economy. The base is now called Griffiss Business and Technology Park. It has about 40 tenants, including one of the Air Force's super research laboratories.

Lang said the base made the perfect concert location. It has roads, water, sewer lines and the sprawling runways provided enough room for parking, camping and the main stage.

While the concert was being promoted as an economic godsend, some Rome residents weren't happy to be hosting it.

Nancy Graves, whose home borders the airstrip, wonders about security. She also questioned whether teen-age concert-goers will spend much money in Rome.

"They're lucky if they can afford the price of the ticket, a hot dog and a sleeping bag,'' she said.

Frank Discenza was another critic who wished Rome officials had learned something from the Saugerties' experience.

"It's just absolutely crazy, to invite drug abuse, alcohol abuse and insanity into your community. I can't think of any good that could possibly come of it,'' he said.