June 17 council meeting: County weighs importance of infrastructure projects
Councilors hear updates on affordable housing and ADU applications
Photos by Minesh Bacrania
County officials seeking state funding for infrastructure improvements presented the Los Alamos County Council with the perceived top projects at a work session on Tuesday, June 17th. As proposed, the county would seek $40 million from the New Mexico Legislature.
The proposed projects seek funding for housing infrastructure, a new emergency operations center, social services, power infrastructure upgrades, and roadway improvements in White Rock.
Intergovernmental Affairs Manager Danielle Duran said that each year, the county must submit a list of the top 20 Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan projects for consideration for state funding. Legislators and the governor determine the rankings of items on that ICIP list, and then the governor alone considers the top five projects.
Ultimately, funding decisions are made once legislators review the list of proposed projects, and Duran said legislators and the governor also look to see if each project’s timeline aligns with the state’s capital outlay funding cycle.
Budget and Performance Manager Erika Thomas presented councilors with a list of the top five projects her office would like the county to present to legislators ahead of the 2026 session.
The list included a request for $12 million to fund housing infrastructure in the county. Thomas said the funds would be used to increase the capacity for new housing development and the amount and variety of housing in Los Alamos to help meet the needs of the county’s changing and growing population. A specific focus would be placed on middle- and lower-income housing, and to the development of county-owned land for affordable housing.
The second item included $5 million for an emergency operations center, or EOC. The funds would be used to build a dedicated center adjacent to Fire Station 3. The new structure would replace what Thomas called an “ad hoc setup” that’s currently in use, and she said the new EOC would act as a central “command hub” during emergency incidents.
A funding request for social services colocation facilities would be split into two fiscal years, with the county asking for $2 million in 2027 and $8 million in 2028.
The county would seek $7.5 million for replacement of the EA-4 electric power line, the primary power source for the Los Alamos County water well system in Guaje Canyon and the Los Alamos Wastewater Treatment Plant. The money would help county officials replace many older wooden poles with new metal ones, a project that may require some new poles to be brought in by helicopter along portions of rough terrain. The line was constructed in the 1960s and spans five canyons between NM 502 and Guaje Canyon.
Finally, $2.5 million would go to improvements to White Rock Town Center and Longview Drive, including road realignment, widened sidewalks, landscaping, lighting, and public parking.
Council did not make any decisions on the prioritized list during this work session and will likely discuss these projects at a future meeting.
Councilors also heard an update on housing in Los Alamos from Dan Osborn, the County’s Housing and Special Projects Manager.
Osborn said his office is working to increase the stock of affordable housing in the county and to facilitate new development to increase density.
He said the county has 134 newly completed housing units — the Canyon Walk and Bluffs complexes on DP Road — and 517 more units in progress. However, Osborn said that development on some projects in North Community have been delayed, but said 149 market-rate multi-family units at the Hills Apartments were still scheduled for completion for the end of the year, and that 106 of 161 units at Mirador Subdivision have been completed already.
Councilor Suzie Havemann asked for an update on applications for accessory dwelling units filed by Los Alamos residents following previous changes to county codes to allow ADUs. Osborn said no applications had been filed since the changes were adopted in December of 2022.
“That isn’t to say that people haven’t built other structures on their properties, or built studios or those kinds of things, but nothing that would qualify as habitable space,” Osborn said.
Havemann asked if the county should place more resources behind informing property owners about ADUs and the laws surrounding building them on a property.
“Do we have a desired outcome for there to be more ADUs, like there are in other communities where they’ve had housing crunches?” Havemann said. “Maybe people don’t know about them … So if we want to offer more affordable housing, and housing options and better care for our seniors … maybe you should be informing people, hey this is a thing, and you can do this.”
Osborn noted that often, it isn’t simply a matter of encouraging people to build an ADU on their property and that property owners would likely need more information and education on the legal requirements of becoming a landlord and taking on a tenant.
“If you build an ADU, you become a landlord, and there are just some other challenges,” Osborn said. “Those things increase the value of your property and that has tax implications … [and] once you have a tenant in that unit, you have tenant law that you have to follow.”
Havemann suggested that the council should have a deeper discussion about the matter at a future meeting.
The next scheduled meeting of the Los Alamos County Council is slated for Tuesday, June 24 at 6 p.m. at the Los Alamos Municipal Building at 1000 Central Avenue.