Associate Laboratory Director for Operations Bret Simpkins, left, and Associate Laboratory Director for Infrastructure and Capital Projects David Teter present the laboratory’s transportation and housing needs during the regular Los Alamos County Council meeting Oct. 17. Screenshot/LADP
By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com
With Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) increasing its workforce, two major needs have come to light: housing and transportation. Just what exactly these needs are and how to best address them were the focus of a presentation by Associate Laboratory Director for Infrastructure and Capital Projects David Teter and Associate Laboratory Director for Operations Bret Simpkins during the Los Alamos County Council Oct. 17 meeting.
“(We will) talk about the growth that we have at the laboratory and how we need to partner with our regional communities to help us with this growth,” Teter said. “We are clearly in this together; we can’t do this by ourselves on the other side of the bridge.”
Los Alamos County has already helped with this effort. Teter pointed out that work is not starting from scratch; there are internal Los Alamos County documents that can be used to develop a strategy for housing and transportation. These plans include the County downtown master plans as well as the laboratory’s campus master plan.
A plan is needed because growth at the laboratory is significant; Teter said, and it is not just the core weapons mission but the broader energy and national security missions.
“With that growth we struggle to grow and meet the operational capacity and we are recognizing that what we need to do is partner with our regional communities to help us address those operational challenges (which is) mainly housing and transportation…,” Teter said.
He gave a snapshot of just how big LANL has gotten. A year ago, there were 15,000 employees; but that number increased by 2,000. This makes the total number of employees – including regular staff, students, post-docs, craft workers and contractors – 17,000. Teter noted 61 percent of new hires come from New Mexico. Overall, Teter said the 2024 laboratory budget is $4.4 billion of which $1.5 billion goes towards salaries. The budget is projected to grow another $1.4 to $1.5 billion in the next two to three years.
So, who are these new hires? Teter said while there is a full spectrum of ages at the laboratory, the vast majority of newcomers are young – 35 years old or younger and their starting salaries are $150,000 or less.
He added that 60 percent of laboratory employees live outside Los Alamos. Teter further explained more and more are finding homes in Santa Fe, Rio Rancho and Albuquerque.
Perhaps one reason for this is housing in Los Alamos is extremely limited, he said, pointing out that in June, there were only 44 houses on the market. Another factor is home prices, which are much higher in Los Alamos than in other communities. Teter showed one chart that revealed housing prices in Los Alamos exceeded prices in its neighboring communities as well as the Albuquerque area. This makes living off the hill attractive, but gives an undesirable commute, Teter said.
To satisfy housing needs, Teter said two types of housing are being explored. The first is long-term permanent housing for regular employees and the second is temporary, short-term housing to support construction workers.
Simpkins touched on what LANL is doing to address transportation needs. He said the laboratory has plans for mass transit onsite capacity. Furthermore, Simpkins said LANL has a pilot park-and-ride service that serves about 100 employees a day from the Cities of Gold Casino in Pojoaque.
“Probably the most important number … is the 12 percent of staff that commute between 70 to 120 miles – that’s the target for our mass transit,” Simpkins said.
It would help employees balance work and life, which he said, “would be a game changer; we are pursuing permission to kick that off with the [NNSA] field office …”
Simpkins said 63 percent of LANL employees live off the hill with the largest fraction commuting to work from Santa Fe and Espanola.
The traditional approach for commuting would be building more parking structures, he said. Right now, Simpkins said they are 250 to 500 vehicles short in the Pajarito corridor where the primary mission occurs. The mass transit plan would allow employees to leave their vehicles at home, ride mass transit to the site and 20 passenger airport shuttles would be used to commute around the site. At the end of the day, employees would return to their vehicles.
The goal, Simpkins said, is to keep 2,000 vehicles off the hill. This will be largely accomplished by offsite parking huts and the mass transit plan. He added the laboratory is working with the Texas Transportation Institute to develop this solution and the Pueblo Alliance. Plus, Simpkins said the laboratory is encouraging other modes of transportation such as riding motorcycles, biking and walking.
Simpkins and Teter also revealed, through results of survey, what laboratory employees said they are hoping for in housing and transportation.
Teter explained the survey was limited to employees who were hired in the last five years. They had about a 50 percent response rate. Those responses showed that 50 percent own a home and 40 percent rent. Regarding further plans, the homeowners said they would like to continue owning a home and the renters said they would like to become homeowners.
Teter added that among hires already at the laboratory there is a demand for 1,600-1,700 single-family homes, preferably less than 2,500 square feet and priced at or below $500,000.
He added offsite campuses are being explored to serve those who live off the hill and reduce the amount of traffic congestion in Los Alamos. While the Los Alamos campus would still host most employees, Teter said a potential partnership between Sandia National Laboratories and the NNSA Field Office could yield a multi-agency campus.
