The votes by County Council to create a Zone that prohibits office space on the ground floor of buildings will have the unintended effect of causing more retail to be lost in our community (link).

Small retail is disappearing everywhere due to the big boxes and online sales. The larger regional and national stores have very strict guidelines on the population of the market area and traffic exposure. Unfortunately, Los Alamos does not qualify on either criteria.

Los Alamos needs to generate more traffic not less. Making arbitrary decisions without significant data showing there is retail demand for the ground floor space is not responsible.

More energy should be spent on helping our current businesses succeed and expand. We should also work on recruiting new businesses using the tools available to the county as incentives.

Not allowing office space on the ground floor will decrease traffic resulting in more pressure on existing retail and decrease the interest for new businesses to risk investment in Los Alamos.

In addition, the property owners will not generate enough rent to keep up their property. The great work to make Central attractive will be lost. Please rethink this decision.