BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com
There are so many questions in the community about Los Alamos County’s purchase agreement to buy the former CB Fox and Reed Deal properties and what will happen when a 90-day due diligence period ends in late March. See previous stories in the Los Alamos Reporter.
The County has engaged the services of a design consultant – FBT Architects and at tonight’s virtual Council work session, County staff and FBT will make presentations to Council on the progress made to date on determining existing conditions, restrictions and opportunities for the two properties. Although currently at a very preliminary stage of obtaining public input, the FBT plans indicate that County officials already have some pretty specific ideas of what they would like to see at both locations. See presentation here:
https://losalamos.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4797882&GUID=F0E5E075-511E-42C7-9059-0870EA98F84A&Options=&Search=
The agenda packet states that the purpose of the presentations is to inform, educate and receive feedback on the information presented.
“Additional due diligence work is still needed including further parking analysis and construction cost estimation. The scenarios are only intended to provide a visual guide and framework to aid the discussion about what is feasible and what potential development scenarios could support the community’s strategic goals and plans. Furthermore, it is important to note that the scenarios presented all have variations and alternatives that could be considered should the County purchase the properties,” the packet states.
Although staff and FBT are slated to present final reports to Council March 16, the agenda packet for Tuesday’s meeting does not indicate options can choose from for how to lease or sell portions or all of the properties should the County end up with ownership of them. Also not reflected in Tuesday’s packet is what the County might expect to spend on the properties and how that would affect sales or lease prices going forward.
“The purpose of the due diligence report is not to make final staff recommendations or seek decisions about the end uses, but solely to aid in deciding about purchasing the properties. If purchased, the final path forward and development conditions imposed or implemented by the County as the property owner, will be informed by discussion and public input,” the agenda packet states.
Members of the public can, also, join this meeting session to make public comment via Zoom by pasting into their browser the following: https://zoom.us/j/93962886698 once the session has started, or by telephone:
US: +1 346 248 7799 or +1 669 900 6833 or +1 253 215 8782 or
+1 312 626 6799 or +1 929 205 6099 or +1 301 715 8592
Webinar ID: 939 628 6698