July 8 council meeting: Nearly $1M approved for Trinity Drive electrical infrastructure upgrade
More EV charging approved; golfers will soon have a chance to play part of the rehabilitated course.
Los Alamos County Council on Tuesday allocated nearly $1 million to replace a buried electric line along Trinity Drive, between Oppenheimer Drive and Timber Ridge.
The “feeder 13” circuit has been a significant headache for Los Alamos County in recent years, with multiple failures that have resulted in widespread outages around Western Area. This circuit also serves Los Alamos Medical Center, but LAMC has a redundant line from LANL.
Council approved $988,917.01 for the project, along with a 20% contingency of $197,783.40, for Dub-L-EE LLC to replace the buried primary electric line.
Deputy Utilities Manager Steven Marez said the project will involve removing the sidewalk along both sides of the street and burying the high-voltage cables, as well as conduit for future fiber expansion.
“We'll have brand new sidewalks on both sides,” he said.
Marez said the county has tried to coordinate with Comcast’s recent utility work in the area to unify the projects, but those efforts “were unsuccessful.”
The work will be limited to the sidewalks, but roadway lane closures will be implemented at times to ensure equipment access and worker safety.
“It should be straightforward,” Marez said. “It’s clear where the utilities are located, so it should be rapid. Realistically, I do not see them taking more than six to eight weeks at the longest.”
Council Chair Teresa Cull expressed concern about the effect that reducing traffic flow from three lanes to two would have on the main artery through town. “I think we’re just going to see a big backup on Trinity,” she said.
Trinity Drive is also NM 502, which places it under the control of the New Mexico Department of Transportation. Marez said that as part of the NMDOT permitting process, the contractor will be required to have flaggers controlling traffic in those “tight spots.” Marez also told council that contractors would ensure bicyclists have access to the area.
Assuming there are no setbacks, this project should not overlap with the Trinity Drive road diet construction project — between Oppenheimer Drive and Knecht Street — scheduled to take place this winter.
In other electrical matters, the county is working to expand its electric vehicle charging infrastructure to accommodate the demands of residents, visitors, and the growing number of EVs in the county’s fleet.
The first project in this expansion involves replacing the three aging Level-2 charging stations in front of the municipal building with six new stations, each capable of serving two vehicles.
Angelica Gurule, the county’s sustainability manager, presented a request to establish a total project budget of $730,000 using previously encumbered and fiscal year 2025 carry over funds. Of this, $140,000 will be used to purchase the charging stations, nearly $400,000 will be awarded to R+M Construction LLC for installation, and the remainder be go toward for other project costs, including a 20% contingency.
Unlike the current free-to-use charging stations, the new charging stations will come at a fee to EV drivers. The Board of Public Utilities has approved a fixed rate of $0.23/kWh to cover the cost of both the electricity and infrastructure. As a comparison, residential electricity in Los Alamos is billed at $0.15/kWh.
“I've heard from various community members that there is a need,” Cull said. “I do think we need to charge people for the electricity and maintenance of these units.”
Gurule also noted that NMDOT awarded the county a grant for two new Level-3 fast charging stations that will be installed at the Mesa Public Library.
Along with this project, Gurule also presented to Council an update of the county's sustainability initiatives. (The slides (PDF) from the presentation)
County Manager Anne Laurent provided an update on the Los Alamos County Golf Course rehabilitation project and said that staff have been working on “deep tine aerification of the greens and tee boxes, top-dressing of all greens… ninja tines … verticutting tee boxes, …overseeding and fertilizing the front nine tee boxes, resodding for the greens on the back nine.” Laurent said the county continues to follow the recommendations of the golf course architect.
"We’re doing tee box fertilization every two to three weeks, bunker maintenance including edging, weed control, and continued efforts in growing the turf on the bunker faces and surround,” she said. “We’ve got the mowers over most of the golf course. Since April, staff has been fertilizing greens every ten days. The entire course has been fertilized twice so far this season.”
Despite all of these efforts, Laurent said the course remained closed so the new turf can continue to establish itself.
“Part of our issue is just getting enough warm days and enough water and enough fertilizer to get it all to take," she said.
According to a press release from the county, “Staff and our contractor are following the grow-in plan prepared by the golf course architect to ensure our multi-million-dollar investment in the golf course takes hold and provides the quality golfing experience that our community deserves for this and the coming years.”
The good news for golfers is that there will be a soft opening during the weekend of June 18-20, limited to the front nine holes. The course will close again afterward so staff can better understand the impacts of the usage on the golf course before deciding on an opening schedule. The practice range and putting green will continue to be available without restriction.
Council also noted some items that are coming up:
Progress update on the 20th Street development (July 29th)
Progress update on the Elk Ridge natural gas rehabilitation project and Jemez Mountain pipeline project from
Revisiting the wildlife feeding ordinance
The next council work session is scheduled for July 15. The agenda can be found here.