From Page 9 of the 2016 Los Alamos County Comprehensive Plan. Courtesy image

From Page 72 of the 2016 Los Alamos County Comprehensive Plan, from the ‘housing’ section. Courtesy image

BY STEPHANIE NAKHLEH
Member
Los Alamos Planning & Zoning Commission

Note: I am a Planning and Zoning Commissioner, but I speak only for myself and not the commission. This is part of a series—please see part one (How Things Get Built—Or Not—In Los Alamos) and part two (A Simple Guide To P&Z Cases).

Have you ever wondered why a duplex can be built in one neighborhood but not in another, or why downtowns can look so different from one similarly sized city to the next? The answer lies in two key documents: the comprehensive plan and the development (or zoning) code. These documents together form a rulebook that determines what gets built, where, and how. To the point of this column, that means they have a direct impact on rents (both commercial and residential) and homeownership costs.

Before we can understand how to make housing more affordable, we need to understand the rulebook. In earlier columns, I’ve argued that working together to fix that rulebook does far more for affordability than debating each project in isolation.

So let’s turn to these rulebook documents, discuss why they are so important for affordability, and explore their interrelationships.

Two documents, two different jobs

Think of the comprehensive plan as your community’s vision statement—a collective agreement about what kind of place your town wants to be. It’s the “what we want” document. Many cities are starting to name their comprehensive plans: Santa Fe’s is called “Santa Fe Forward,” for example. Perhaps Los Alamos will come up with an evocative name when we update ours, but the current version is simply called “Comprehensive Plan 2016.” (I’ll be capitalizing this term when I’m talking about ours, and using lowercase for talking about comprehensive plans in general.) Comprehensive plans are policy documents.

The implementation document is the zoning code, which we in Los Alamos call “Chapter 16 of the Los Alamos County Code of Ordinances,” or the “Development Code.” In every city, the zoning/development code is the law that makes the comprehensive plan’s vision real. It’s the “what’s allowed” document.

Here’s how they work together:

The Comprehensive Plan identifies our priorities for land use. It’s a guide for decisions about the built and natural environment. What types of development do we envision? Where should growth happen? How do we maintain Los Alamos as a place where people want to live and work? Our current Comprehensive Plan includes goals like “variety of housing and retail options supporting urban form” and “open space, transportation, and connectivity.”

The Development Code is a set of regulations that implements the Comprehensive Plan. It determines how properties can actually be used and developed. Every property in the county is zoned to a specific district—residential, commercial, or mixed-use. For each zoning district, the code includes rules governing allowed uses, the size and height of buildings, the distance structures must be set back from property lines, parking mandates, and more.

An example: what can you build on an empty lot?

Say you own an empty lot somewhere in town. What you can build there depends on both documents.

First, you review the Development Code to determine the zoning of that property. Is it zoned for single-family homes only? For apartments? For offices or shops? For an industrial use, such as a car repair shop? The code tells you what’s allowed on that lot.

But what if you want to build something that doesn’t match the current zoning? Maybe the lot is zoned for offices, but you want to build apartments above retail space. Now you look at the Comprehensive Plan to see if your idea matches the county’s vision for that area. The plan might say, “We want downtown to be a mixed-use, walkable area with housing and shops.” If your proposed building is located downtown and aligns with that vision, you might apply to have the property rezoned.

The Comprehensive Plan categorizes the county into distinct areas, including downtown, suburban neighborhoods, and business districts. It may also include a new vision for an area if other types of development would better serve the community’s needs. The Development Code is intended to ensure that any new construction complies with regulations that promote health, safety, and livability.

Together, these documents shape the community we live in today and the one we’ll have tomorrow.

Why this matters for housing costs

Los Alamos faces a severe housing shortage. The 2024 Affordable Housing Plan identified a need for 1,300 to 2,400 new housing units by 2029. According to the 2024 AHP, we currently produce about 62 units per year—meaning we’d need to quintuple our housing production rate at least to meet this goal.

“Given development challenges and limited land availability, Los Alamos should make every possible effort to ensure that remaining land is developed in the most efficient way possible,”  states the AHP. “This plan recommends encouraging ‘missing middle’ development types and target development densities starting at 10 – 15 dwelling units per acre.”

Many factors affect housing costs, but land-use regulations are one lever within the county’s control. If the Comprehensive Plan says “we want more affordable housing and a vibrant downtown,” but the Development Code requires large lots across most residential land and makes it difficult to build apartments, those ideas are incompatible. And when there is incompatibility, the code wins out.

The plan sets the vision. The code makes it real. When they’re misaligned, good intentions on paper don’t translate into homes people can actually afford.

What comes next?

Los Alamos is expected to begin updating its Comprehensive Plan in 2026—the first significant update since 2016. The Lab has grown from about 12,000 employees to 18,000 in that time. About two-thirds of Lab workers now commute from outside the county because they can’t find housing they can afford in town. Meanwhile, downtown has a significant amount of vacant and dilapidated commercial space. The 2021 Downtown Master Plan found that parking and roadways consume over 70 percent of downtown’s available space—meaning what could be a walkable downtown with housing over shops has essentially been turned into pavement. (See page 20, here.)

The Comprehensive Plan update is an opportunity for us to ask: What kind of community do we want to be? Do we want to make room for essential workers, young families, and seniors who want to downsize? Do we want a vibrant downtown with local businesses and housing options? Do we want to reduce commuting and its environmental impact?

Next month, we’ll look at the Development Code itself—the specific rules about lot sizes, parking mandates, and building types that determine what actually gets built.

Where you come in

Both documents depend on community input. The Comprehensive Plan update process will include public meetings, surveys, and opportunities for the public to weigh in on the county’s vision. The Development Code can also be amended (requiring a public process) when the rules no longer serve the community’s goals.

Your voice matters in shaping Los Alamos’ future. Understanding these documents is the first step toward effective participation.

About the author: Stephanie was raised in Los Alamos, where she lives now with her husband and dog. She has two adult kids. When not sitting in meetings, she can usually be found on the trails or writing for her Substack, We Can Have Nice Things.