By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com

Los Alamos County Community Development Department (CDD) has a lengthy to-do list, which was shared with County Council during its Tuesday night regular meeting.

“2024 is going to be busy,” CDD Director Paul Andrus said. “And we are excited about it. It is just a lot of priorities and a lot of good work that comes out of this.”

Andrus and Economic Development Administrator Dan Ungerleider gave an update on some of the major projects underway in the CDD.

The Bluffs Senior Apartments
The apartment complex is in its “final sprint”, Andrus said. The developer is seeking a temporary certificate of occupancy from the CDD but there are still items that need to be completed.

The Hills Apartments
Andrus said The Hills Apartments are “moving along” based on what CDD staff have seen in the field. The earliest the complex would be ready for occupancy is estimated to be in the spring.

The site of the former Hilltop House Hotel
The owners are in conversations with the University of California to develop a master lease, Andrus said. He said this looks “promising” and it is moving forward. The document probably will not be finalized till March, but in the meantime the owners are working with CDD to address what the planning and entitlement process would be and what is needed to make the project feasible.

Arkansas Place
Andrus said there have been setbacks in the construction of these housing units, but the housing development is moving forward with plans to have models ready for pre-sale viewing in the spring although that deadline is uncertain.

American Rescue Plan Act
The County is distributing $2 million of ARPA funds through three different programs to the business community, Ungerleider reported. All $2 million has been assigned to businesses and quite a few dollars have already been given. He added that more money will be distributed as receipts and required documentation is provided.

Entrada Business Park
Ungerleider said a presale development agreement is nearing completion. It’s expected to be presented to council in January.

Mari Mac
The hope is to have architectural drawings prepared and ready by the spring, Ungerleider said. He added that the CDD is working with the developers on innovative ways to offer public/private opportunities such as open space and parking. The details will be forthcoming.

Affordable Housing Plan
Ungerleider said updating the affordable housing plan is in the beginning stage. The hope is to increase offerings that satisfy needs for everything from affordable housing to the “missing middle” housing. It will also help support other housing projects such as the North Mesa Housing Project. The County is working with the Mortgage Finance Authority on the plan. The updated plan is expected to go to council for approval either in late winter or early spring, he said.

Chapter 16
Andrus said the CDD is working with the Community Services Department to cleanup Chapter 16 of the County Code. The hope is to bring the updates to the council in 2024. A few conversations on this chapter address converting some existing parcels in town to open space, parking regulations for housing and commercial properties, addressing the Planning and Zoning Commission’s request for staff to look into accessory dwelling units and incorporating Los Alamos Resiliency Energy and Sustainability Task Force’s recommendations into the building code.

20th Street Development
The CDD will have its first onsite inspection for prospective developers this week and are expecting proposals to be submitted next week, Ungerleider said, adding that invitations to the onsite visit were given to 60 developers across the nation.

A-8-A parcel
Ungerleider said solicitations for the land parcel located off DP Road will be open early next year.

36th Street Property
The property, located off Trinity Drive and was originally purchased by Pet Pangea is being considered for affordable housing, Ungerleider said, adding that work is being done to determine the viability of doing that.

LEDA
SALA Event Center’s LEDA proposal is being developed and a term sheet will be presented to council, Ungerleider said.

North Mesa Housing Project
A joint meeting between Los Alamos Public Schools and the County will be held Dec. 18 to discuss a memo of agreement to proceed with the design and development of the housing project, Ungerleider said.

Regional Economic Development
Updates to the Regional Economic Development Initiative Plan were presented and approved by the council during its Nov. 28 meeting. Ungerleider said the County is working with its neighbors on housing and CDD is teaming up with the Public Works Department to perform a transit study in coordination with the Laboratory to identify ways to improve transit into the community.

In addition to providing an update on various CDD projects, Andrus and his staff provided an overview of how the CDD is structured and the processes it follows to push construction projects from concepts to completion, how it awards business registrations and building permits.

Andrus and his team also presented the idea of establishing a Metropolitan Redevelopment Area (MRA) in East Downtown Los Alamos. This would cover 19 parcels. Adopting an MRA, according to the presentation, would “allow for the contribution of public resources to private redevelopment projects without violating the New Mexico Anti-donation Clause.”

The presentation further noted the MRA would give tools to help address redevelopment of East Downtown Los Alamos.

These include:

• Establishing an MRA board to oversee implementation and funding of MRA Plan projects.
• Creating an MRA Fund for projects.
• Establishing Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Districts, which is a tool to capture the incremental rise in property taxes and/or a percentage of the incremental increase in local or state gross receipts tax within the district for MRA administration and projects.
• Allowing for public/private partnerships, which would enable implementation of projects that are too costly or risky for either sector to do on its own.
• Providing development incentives which would contribute public resources to private redevelopment projects and business improvements without violating the New Mexico anti-donation law.

In other business, council:

• Introduced an ordinance to raise the local minimum wage to $15, $3.75 for tipped workers and $13.50 for students. A public hearing on the ordinance is scheduled for Jan. 30. If approved, it would go into effect July 1, 2024.
• Approved 6-0, Council Chair Denise Derkacs was absent, the project development agreement between the County and Pajarito Recreation for the Jemez Mountain Fire Protection Project and the budget revision of $14 million. Likewise, council unanimously approved a resolution to execute documents with the New Mexico Environment Department for the fire protection project’s pipeline construction.
• Unanimously approved support of the 2024 New Mexico counties legislative priorities as well as unanimously approved the County’s legislative priorities. The New Mexico Counties’ priorities include, among other items, under HB2 Appropriations, funding for the detention facilities as well as for recruitment and retention of detention workforce, creating a line item to fund local government EMS services and creating a state health benefit fund solvency plan. Priorities for Los Alamos County, include, among other items, supporting infrastructure funding for all New Mexicans and for communities participating in the Los Alamos Regional Strategic Partnership fund and Los Alamos regional transit coordination, monitoring legislation to amend the anti-donation clause in New Mexico and opposing changes to the state school funding formula that would negatively impact the Los Alamos Public Schools.