The Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Committee will meet in Council Chambers at 5:15 p.m. Thursday to consider Phase 2 applications for a new nature center and a new teen center.
The nature center has three possible designs, all from Catalyst Architecture. The preferred site (based on community input at a public meeting in November) is on Canyon Road, formerly the skate park location just up the road from the Aquatic Center.
In addition, as a close-to-net-zero energy use building, it becomes a model for environmental sustainability.
The other two designs, for the current PEEC site on Orange Street, have some of the same functions. One is a remodel of the old 1950’s building and the other is a new building on the same site.
All three designs will be presented at the CIP meeting.
Issues the CIP Committee will consider are location near the downtown and bus service, a signature building that would show off Los Alamos’ natural beauty, rehabilitation of a disturbed area and community and school involvement in outdoor nature and science programs.
The total size of each of the three designs is just under 6,000 square feet.
Several citizens have asked whether the Nature Center and Teen Center could share a site and/or a building. The two groups met in 2011 to discuss this possibility and agreed that the uses were probably dissimilar.
Also, the former skate park site on Canyon Road is just barely big enough for the Nature Center by itself. The Teen Center is proposed to be 18,000 square feet.
To see drawings and information about both projects, visit the County website at www.losalamosnm.us/projects/capital/Pages/default.aspx.
Comments are welcome at cpfd@lacnm.us. Information and drawings are also posted at www.PajaritoEEC.org – click on Nature Center CIP Project.
Dave Fox shows off his PEEC hat during a meeting at Fuller Lodge. Courtesy/PEEC
PEEC’s Siobhan Niklasson and Chick Keller bring American Gothic to Los Alamos. Photo by Charles Kiyanda
PEEC supporters gather around their favorite design for a new nature center at a Jan. 19 meeting in Fuller Lodge. Courtesy/PEEC
Pajarito Environmental Education Center board members model their PEEC hats at Ashley Pond. Photo by Charles Kiyanda