COUNTY NEWS
Residents must register in advance to attend GoToWebinar meetings
Residents are reminded that they only have one more week to register for one or two upcoming “virtual” workshops to participate in contributing their ideas about the future of the White Rock and Los Alamos downtown areas. The first GoToWebinar, facilitated by Los Alamos County’s consultants from Dekker/Perich/Sabatini (DPS), will be specifically for White Rock residents and the second workshop using GoToWebinar will focus on the downtown area of Los Alamos.
After a brief introduction to the project and interactive survey to gauge resident responses to the kind of downtown that they envision for either community, DPS will introduce seven topic areas and facilitate discussion with participants to collect feedback. The seven areas are:
- Visual Identity/Urban Form
- Housing
- Economic Development
- Public Space/Street Design
- Infrastructure/Utilities
- Sustainability
- Transportation
The ‘Downtown Master Plans and Development Code Update’ is a two-year project initiated by Los Alamos County in June 2020. The project encompasses two phases:
- Phase 1 will create Downtown Master Plans for both the Los Alamos and White Rock downtown areas;
- Phase 2 will update the County’s Chapter 16 Development Code, the County’s zoning.
Both phases recognize the unique challenges that Los Alamos County faces. The project team will develop strategies to address the economic and population growth projected for the County.
The Downtown Master Plan meeting for White Rock will be held Wednesday, August 19, and the meeting for Los Alamos will be held Thursday, August 20. Both meetings begin at 5:30 p.m. on GoToWebinar, a virtual conference platform, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the Governor’s public health order.
Participants need to register in advance. Virtual meeting detailed information and links to attend can be found at https://losalamosconnect.org/get-involved/virtual-visioning-workshop-white-rock/
The Virtual Visioning Workshops will help articulate a vision for the downtown areas and prioritize downtown goals. During this workshop the community will discuss the various components that make a downtown successful: great public spaces, thriving businesses, contemporary housing and walkable districts. From this discussion the community will identify and prioritize a vision and associated goals to inform the direction of the master plan.
The outcomes of the Los Alamos County Downtown Master Plans & Code Update project rely heavily on input solicited during public outreach. Both project phases described above will have a series of outreach events and provide continuous opportunities for input through a variety of outreach channels. In the case of a revised public health order, outreach methods will be adjusted to serve the greatest number of participants in a safe environment.
The next two public outreach meetings will be Design Workshops and are tentatively planned for later in September. Participants are encouraged to visit the project website and follow along as the project phases proceed. A timeline can be viewed on the site. Meetings will be recorded for those unable to attend and added to the site, and additional documents as well as surveys to gather feedback will be available soon. Visit and bookmark https://losalamosconnect.org/ for more information.