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

The downtown areas in White Rock and Los Alamos garner a lot of interest.

A new subdivision is being constructed in the downtown area in White Rock and multiple developers have shown interest in commercial spaces in Los Alamos.

Both downtown areas in the County are ripe with potential.

The design firm of Dekker, Perich and Sabatini is contracted to update the County’s downtown master plans and development code.

Representatives from Dekker, Perich and Sabatini reported Tuesday night on the status of their work during the Los Alamos County Council work session.

According to the County staff report, the design firm touched on its initial findings on existing conditions, site analysis and diagnosis of Chapter 16 in the code. They also reported on the schedule for the project as well as their plans for public outreach.

Regarding the schedule, the hope is to complete the existing condition assessment by the end of this month and develop the draft concept and hold public workshops by this fall, however they noted that public engagement would be a part of all phases of the plan development.

The master plans are expected to be completed by November and then finalized by the end of the year. Additionally, the process to update Chapter 16 in the code is scheduled to begin in September. Working group sessions to address updates to the code are planned throughout next year and the project is expected to be completed by the fall of 2021.

Due to the pandemic, public outreach is planned to be conducted through virtual workshops, meetings and webinars. Information also will be publicized on social media and a website under development.

Council Chair Sara Scott said there is a lot of interest in housing and commercial development in the downtown areas.

“We have an opportunity to make sure these are developed in a smart and responsible way and that they serve our community’s needs,” Scott said. “And so this master planning effort and any associated code updates are being undertaken both for Los Alamos and White Rock to take advantage of these current opportunities … the real goal here is to get to the next level of detail of what we would like these areas to look like in the future; how we would like them to work for us, so it is important that we develop a good vision for these areas; look at new options, in addition, for mobility, transportation and parking…”

She added that public input in this process to address the master plans is critical.

Will Gleason, AICP and LEED AP, said both Los Alamos and White Rock have a lot of potential. He pointed out that in White Rock, the County set the stage well for revitalizing the downtown with the new library, senior center and visitors center. However, Gleason said, the challenge will be attracting businesses to a downtown with a population of only 6,000 people.

Likewise, Gleason said, Los Alamos possesses good catalytic opportunities, particularly on the block between 20th and 15th Street and south of Central Avenue. Other prime locations are the former Hilltop House Hotel and old Smith’s grocery store, he said.

Gleason added that to be successful in the downtown area requires a shift in thinking. This shift in thinking is “not just about zoning and not just about getting the right streetscape in place; it is really figuring out what the market forces are that we need to engage (and) what we need to do to incentize those market forces to create products you all want…,” he said.

Katrina Arndt, AICP, said the goals with the downtown master plans for Los Alamos and White Rock are to have them be adopted as addendums for the County’s comprehensive plan.

Luckily, they are not starting from scratch. Arndt said the comprehensive plan already has a “ton” of goals for the two downtown areas and these goals can be used as a starting point. Arndt said through public outreach, it will be determined what needs to be revised or added to establish a framework for the master plans.

Jessica Lawlis with technical standards and zoning, touched the regulatory diagnosis and downtown on zoning in the master plans. She said the Los Alamos downtown zoning utilizes an overlay structure with four sub-districts, which are intended to allow mixed use in varying degrees.

Lawlis said in the White Rock downtown there are no sub-districts, which may need to be reconsidered because it hampers development.

Additionally, Lawlis said the sub-districts in Los Alamos are similar and may be too numerous. These sub-districts may need to be combined so there are only two or one, she said.

Lawlis added that the standards for the downtown districts do not provide enough detail or guidance in terms of site design for what can be built in the downtowns. These standards include site layout, parking and building form. Lawlis said the updated building code may need to focus on understanding the vision for the master plan portion and applying standards to be implemented in the code.

Preliminary considerations for the master plan effort, Lawlis said, include contemplating and recommending the appropriate code structure. She said there are several options: incentive zoning to allow projects to exceed standard requirements if the projects provide a benefit to the public such as open space, form-based code, which emphasizes form and design over the intended use or a hybrid of these two options.
Another piece that needs to be considered, Lawlis said, is to update and streamline the development process and procedures in the downtown districts. She said there needs to be predictable flexibility for developers but there also needs to be predictable outcomes for the community as a whole.

A concern among stable neighborhoods is zoning and wanting to protect its zoning from out-of-scale development projects, Lawlis said.

This is addressed in the County’s adopted goals and policies, but “one of the best ways to protect neighborhood stability is to make it easier for the market to absorb high density housing and development in downtown districts and to provide standards that automatically apply when non- residential, higher intensity mixed-use development happens next to low residential development,” she said.

Of course, COVID-19 also was discussed. Dale Dekker, AIA, ACIP, said COVID has generated a lot of questions and chatter on the impact it will have on how cities are built and how the public realm is organized.

Dekker pointed out the current trend is people are leaving high density cities and moving to smaller towns. He added that social distancing, remote work and ecommerce means more people are staying closer to home.

How will this impact Los Alamos? Dekker said the community’s input will be needed. He added that Los Alamos is appealing to visitors, commuters, retirees and community support workers. With its safe community, good schools and neighborhoods, people like Los Alamos, he said.