From top left: Los Alamos County Council Chair Randall Ryti, Council Vice Chair James Robinson and Councilors Sara Scott and David Izraelevitz. From bottom left, Councilors David Reagor, Denise Derkacs and Sean Williams. Courtesy/LAC

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

The Los Alamos County Council passed on purchasing the CB Fox and Reel Deal Theatre properties but the goal to revitalize the downtowns in Los Alamos and White Rock is not abandoned.

The councilors shared with the Los Alamos Daily Post a variety of ideas for the path the County should take to get more housing and businesses in these downtowns areas.

The stretch of empty storefronts along Longview Drive in White Rock should be replaced with housing for senior citizens, Councilor David Reagor said.

To achieve that he said Longview will need to be rearranged, which would be possible through a Metropolitan Redevelopment Area (MRA).

Senior housing is needed, Reagor said, adding that major landowners are on board with this idea.

“There’s just not enough housing for seniors in that area,” he said.

Not only is there a high need for senior housing but it needs to be affordable, Reagor said. Since there are not many housing options in White Rock for seniors, Reagor said their only option is to leave the area.

Meanwhile, in Los Alamos, Reagor said the major focus should be the Mari Mac shopping plaza and the Hilltop House Hotel. These properties have been sitting empty too long and the fact they are located in the front of town makes it more necessary to fill those properties with things the public wants, he said.

To do that, Reagor said he feels the County should utilize eminent domain to purchase these properties and have them be for the public’s use.

Additionally, he felt the County should provide support for businesses such as a building parking structure with free parking and incease building height restrictions and offer reasonable zoning.

“What you put there is for public use … people have to agree upon it,” he said. “You have to have some sort of vote of the people.”

He noted that although the County has been in talks with various developers on both these properties, the talks seem to have reach a dead end.

“We have to put some pressure on that system because time is up,” Reagor said.

Another option is to discourage vacant buildings and encourage building maintenance, Councilor Sean Williams said.

“One possibility that was brought up at the CB Fox/Reel Deal meeting was the idea of commercial vacancy registration,” he said. “This can have two prongs: increasing fees the longer a building is vacant (going up to $1,000 under Tucumcari’s ordinance), and requiring maintenance of vacant commercial property. Considering the County recently had to force demolition of a commercial building in the Longview area because it had become a public safety hazard, requiring vacant building maintenance is justified and necessary. While this isn’t the only approach we could take, I think such a change would be a boon to White Rock in particular. And White Rock needs some serious love.”

Councilor Denise Derkacs also said she felt a multi-pronged approach is necessary. She added that the current work on the downtown masterplans and revising the development code are key.

The downtown master plans “will establish a vision to guide future redevelopment of the downtown areas. An implementation strategy for the master plans will be necessary, since the County is not starting with a blank slate and most of the downtown properties are privately owned,” Derkacs said.

“In parallel, the County is revising its Development Code to enable desired development to occur and to implement best practices for increased efficiency,” she said. “Among the code changes under discussion are restrictions against ground-floor offices, with no customer interface, to increase retail rental space availability and reduce retail rental costs. Another proposed code change would expand mixed-use designations in both Los Alamos and White Rock to enable more housing development. New housing development and infrastructure improvements will support population growth, which in turn, will increase spending in the local retail community.”

Other tools available to the County include the Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) and the MRA, which Derkacs said would not violate the New Mexico anti-donations clause.

Council Chair Randall Ryti agreed that the development code needs to be addressed along with financial incentives and investments.

“We have some planned capital improvement projects that have the potential to benefit the local business environment,” he said. “One example might be Deacon Street improvements. I would support investments that are expected to have broad impacts to our downtowns.”

Pet Pangaea offers a great example for the County to follow, Council Vice Chair James Robinson said. He pointed out Pet Pangaea Owner Cyndi Wells’ plans for her new building not only includes space for her business but also housing.

“We should take Ms. Well’s example and enforce it on all of our development agreements,” Robinson said. “Housing units and population are key economic drivers for any businesses, and without more housing, we cannot attract the demand for goods and services that businesses require for investment.”

The County should take a similar path by adopting ordinances that ensure uses in the downtown that everybody wants as well as provide more housing – whether through land purchases or land transfers from the NNSA, he said.

“Additionally, the County should consider constructing our housing facilities and should seek a non-profit private-public partnership to operate housing,” Robinson said. “Next, the County should demand housing units be built in new development agreements.”

The purchase agreement for the CB Fox and Reel Deal buildings fell through but Councilor Sara Scott said she is eager to explore other options on how to address the County’s downtown areas.

“In light of the recent decision regarding investment in redevelopment of CB Fox and the Reel Deal Theater properties, I look forward to hearing and exploring alternate ideas from my fellow councilors,” she said. “I remain committed to finding and implementing options to change the trajectory of the eroding vitality and condition of our downtown areas in Los Alamos and White Rock.”

Councilor David Izraelevitz was unavailable for comment.