By BARBARA CALEF And LYNN JONES

To the Los Alamos County Council:

We object to the Council’s amendment of the Comprehensive Plan changing the parcels south of the airport and #502 from open space to multi-use after numerous meetings during which the public saw them marked as open space.

The fact that the members of the Planning and Zoning Commission could see no better designation than open space for the parcels south of the airport and #502 should give pause to the Council. Those pieces of land are narrow and are certainly beyond the current boundary of development on that side of the highway. Chair Reiss asked what is meant by “keep development within current boundaries.” We think the current boundary on the south side of 502 is the Fire Department.

The Cooperative Market, New Mexico Consortium, and Holiday Inn Express on the north side of #502 are accessed by a service road well below the highway. We do not believe there is room for the same arrangement in the parcels on the south side of 502. It is true that the prior zoning for industrial use was inappropriate, but so is multi-use. An RV park or a row of service organizations along the entryway to our town is not what we understand as preserving the viewshed.

We hope the Council will withdraw the amendment before the final adoption of the Comprehensive Plan.