Community Development Department Director Paul Andrus, left, and Chief Building Official Michael Arellano make thier presentation to County Council during the Aug. 22 worksession. Photo by Kirsten Laskey/ladailypost.com 

To help achieve several County Council’s goals and address citizens’ input, Community Development Department Director Paul Andrus and Chief Building Official Michael Arellano posed several policy considerations to the County Council during its work session Aug. 22. The proposed policies included: establishing a neighborhood association program, expanding the notification policy on development projects and fully adopting the International Property Maintenance Code standards. ​

Andrus’ and Arellano’s main goal at the work session was to gather the council’s feedback on these suggested policies.

Many of these proposed policies were generated from feedback the Community Development Department received about neighborhood during the various community outreach sessions held during the Comprehensive Plan update completed last year and from input given to staff by the County Council Comprehensive Plan subcommittee. Andrus said residents who live in older, established neighborhoods have a desire to preserve them.

“They want to preserve the neighborhood in general,” he said. There are concerns about density; for instance, residents have expressed concerns about street parking and RV parking in high density neighborhoods. Andrus said there are also issues about vehicles parked on unpaved surfaces as well as structures such as carports encroaching on setbacks. Another concern is about blighted properties in both commercial and residential areas.

Andrus added that should Council wish, the County could get involved by offering an application process to be involved in the associations or by forming partnerships. Neighborhood associations could also collaborate with schools, the chamber of commerce, churches and nonprofits. “These are the types natural collaborative relationships that neighborhood associations form” Andrus said.

A few members of council were open to the idea. In a written statement, Councilor Chris Chandler said, “Many communities have an enabling ordinance that describes the process by which a group of residents can formally establish a neighborhood association. Many cities offer assistance: providing model bylaws and a neighborhood tool kit and sometimes active encouragement of NA (neighborhood association) formation. There is often a neighborhood coordinator or point of contact with the city. Vibrant neighborhood associations not only benefit residents within that particular geographic area but also support larger city goals.”

She  further wrote, “there has been a heightened awareness of the need to improve our neighborhoods, particularly the older ones. Our focus has largely been on enforcement and compliance. These are of course necessary tools in a neighborhood program but it is not enough. A comprehensive approach is necessary to foster a sense of place, neighborhood engagement and pride.”

Others were a little more wary of it.  Neighborhood Associations should be approached with some caution, Councilor James Chrobocinski said. He said it is a bit of an exaggeration, still, “I’m very familiar with neighborhood associations…There’s potential for good and potential for evil.” While neighborhood associations can work collaboratively and encourage and help each other, there are opportunities for bullying residents to comply with the association which can make neighborhoods quite miserable to live in, Chrobocinski said.

There’s a fine line, he said, and the County needs to be careful not to cross it. “There’s a fine line and I think we need to be very careful about it.”

Vice Council Chair Susan O’Leary said she liked the idea of utilizing an on site sign to provide the notifications. “It’s a really good way to get the word out,” she said.

Councilor Antonio Maggiore said he too thought the signage was a great tool for notification but he felt preference should be given to the developer.

Arellano said the County’s codes are mainly for the exterior of homes and building but there is very little the County can do as far as the interior of structures and adopting the entire code could help with maintaining the code to existing buildings as well as responding to hoarding, absentee landlords, unsafe structures and equipment and occupancy limitations.

Council’s thoughts on the subject ranged from considering the idea to no way, Jose.

Chrobocinski said, “This makes me nervous.” He added that the government has no basis to enter people’s homes. “This is not something that I think is a good idea to do.”

Council Chair David Izraelevitz pointed out that during a past meeting with the Fire Marshall it was reported that hoarding is an issue in Los Alamos, which causes fire hazard issues as well as safety issues to the homeowner and the firefighters. He said whether or not to fully adopt the maintenance code is a difficult question to answer because it is a personal property issue but it is also a safety issue.

Chandler felt the Council needed more information about the International Property Maintenance Code and wondered if they could get a copy of it. Andrus and Arellano said they would provide Council with the code.

Overall, Andrus thanked the Council for its feedback on various suggested policies, adding that it provided his department with a lot of great material.