BY MATT HEAVNER
Vice Chair
Los Alamos County Transportation Board

Though in the works for a little while, the new Integrated Community Services Master Plan has probably been flying below most people’s radar. Director Cory Styron is making the rounds to get the word out, and gave a comprehensive presentation at the March 3 meeting of the Transportation Board.

The Community Services Department (CSD) includes the Library, Parks, Recreation, Ice Rink, aquatics and Golf Divisions. CSD also provides Social and Cultural Services for children, teens, seniors, and families through contracts with various outside agencies. Which is a pretty broad portfolio to be working without a master plan, especially when interaction with so many different departments and boards is required.

Recognizing that it’s time to correct this situation, the county is in the early stages of gathering input to form up initial proposals. Currently there is a particular focus on trails, the golf course, a central competition-ready tennis cluster, and public-access gyms in both North Mesa and White Rock.

But of course the scope is much larger than that. Mr. Styron had an extensive series of slides roughly outlining the state of the project, available at:
http://LosAlamos.legistar.com/gateway.aspx?M=F&ID=a73c8d86-a3ca-43f8-b4a5-a6380e177ce8.pdf

Since it was the Transportation Board, there was considerable input and discussion about bicycle trails, both for general transportation and mountain biking. This section of the presentation can be viewed by going to: http://losalamos.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=2812 and clicking on the link marked Pueblo Conceptual Trail Plan and Skills Park below the video window.

There will be surveys in March to help Community Services hone in on the issues, and two presentations of the findings are anticipated in April.