BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreport.com
Note:The issue of whether or not to have a board or commission appointed to deal with MRA applications will be decided at tomorrow (Jan. 27) evening’s County Council meeting.
If you’re one of those people who has skimmed through local media and Los Alamos County’s discussion of two Metropolitan Redevelopment Areas established by ordinance in Los Alamos and White Rock, you may want to read about County Manager Anne Laurent’s presentation to Council Jan. 13. As you read, you may think about the number of times you have driven through blighted areas in both communities and wondered when something would ever happen to redevelop them.
At the Jan. 13 meeting, Laurent noted that the Metropolitan Redevelopment discussion goes back several years with the Council and the community.
“It started with this idea of blighted, underdeveloped areas both in White Rock and the townsite, with properties that were either not fully utilized or vacant or were in disrepair. It started with master plan efforts to create visions for our downtown areas and how they might be redeveloped,” she said. “It was followed up with code revisions that allowed for higher-level mixed-use developments in those areas, and it was now accompanied by the creation of a Metropolitan Redevelopment Area.”
The first step of that both in White Rock and the townsite, Laurent said, was to pass an ordinance establishing the boundary of the MRA that was based on an assessment of criteria it had to meet based on a standard that was done through a consultant of the state’s MainStreet program.
“That was not something the County paid for consultant-wise, but was something where we worked with that consultant and our local MainStreet Los Alamos folks on setting up the boundary and that was approved by two separate ordinances by Council both for the White Rock area and the townsite,” Laurent said.
The next step for establishing an MRA was to adopt masterplans that discussed the County’s goals in redevelopment of those areas.
“Both of them are sort of based on those master plans for redevelopment that were the basis for choosing higher density and also adjusting things like housing and retail and again, with the overarching goal of we have a blighted area where we want to come up with a plan where we can implement tools that are implemented by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Act, Those tools are things like public-private partnerships, It can be the basis for setting up a tax increment financing district – and we had presentations to Council about all those different tools and those are talked about in the adopted plans<” Laurent said.
She noted that the County is now at a point where the Metropolitan Development Act also has this concept of a Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency within the state law.
“What it does is it basically it says that the governing body has the authority over decisions made or applications of any tools in the Metropolitan Development Area. The governing body, which in this case is the Council, has all the authority to make those decisions and we’ve talked a little bit about what those decisions may or may not be. These are privately owned properties. Some MRAs do include a lot of public property. Ours do not. They are mostly private parcels and so it is still voluntary, so this wouldn’t be necessarily something the government forces on anybody but it opens the doors to partnerships and conversations – that was our intention with our MRAs.” Laurent said.
She said currently the Council is serving as that commission or board and that the commissions or boards are called different names in different communities in New Mexico.
“The terms are interchangeable, but what is says is the Council can delegate authority to a commission or agency and then it outlines a lot of steps for what is required there such as the number of people, how it has to be done by a separate ordinance to basically delegate the Council’s current authority to a board,” Laurent said.
She said what struck her when she looked at all the different examples is that they’re set up based on the situation and the goals that the communities are trying to achieve.
“Some are very different, there are some latitudes but really it’s about what are you trying to achieve by delegating this authority and for some communities it’s because they’ve set up a Tax Increment Financing District where they have actually created some redevelopment. They’ve captured additional tax dollars and they’ve committed to reinvesting that in the District. So this board basically prioritizes how that money is spent on public amenity improvements in that District,” Laurent said.
Another example is when there is another public parcel and this board is given the challenge of working with the community on a vision and priorities for redevelopment around that public property, she said, adding that Los Alamos County doesn’t have that currently in its situation.
“Another opportunity is to say I want an advisory team because there are so many asks and there’s so much prioritization, I would like an advisory board to help us prioritize some of those asks. One thing I think is pretty obvious when you look at other MRAs in the state, is that ours is very small, compared to some of the other MRA areas that are being managed,” Laurent said.
She said those are some of the reasons she came across and that there may be other reasons that are good reasons.
“It’s really for you all to discuss where you all stand with this. I think when we discussed it previously when we were adopting the plans that recommended that Council maintain that authority, the conversation we had was largely around keeping things as efficient as we can, knowing that any kind of public-private partnership has to be done by some kind of ordinance with public-private agreement at the Council level. It’s not something that staff is authorized to do. Staff is really administrative, supervising applications and meeting the requirements,” Laurent said.
She said the application process had just opened up and that it is anticipated that maybe two or three applications will be received within the next several months.
“We do have an initial meeting with one property owner who who wants to have a pre-application meeting. We anticipate there to be a handful of interested MRAs but it is limited to the property owners and businesses in conjunction with approval from the property owners to apply so it’s not something that is open to just anybody in the community.
Council Vice Chair Ryn Herrmann said she knows one of the biggest concerns is transparency. What opportunities do the concerned public have to engage for transparency purposes?, she saked.
“Procedurally we can look at it a few different ways. Certainly anything that requires Council decision has to be publicly noticed as anything is now. We could look at procedurally having some kind of system for notifying all the property owners within the MRA – because our MRAs are small it wouldn’t be too onerous to make direct notice of any applications that have been submitted that are going to be coming to Council for discussion, Certainly just because something comes to Council, you have the ability to have a second discussion and there is no pressure to make a decision at only one meeting. Council can certainly continue to have conversations once it comes to you….” Laurent responded.
Councilor Herrmann asked Laurent how time-consuming a board would be.
“My concern is that there are people that are ready to do this process. They’ve waited a long time already. I worry about efficiency,” Herrmann said.
Laurent replied that efficiency is definitely a concern of staff .
“We have certainly received a lot of input with regard to MRA or LEDA retail about being able to move forward as fast as possible because it’s a back and forth and sometimes we’re waiting for each other for information… That was an important part of being able to be effective with our economic development programs. If we were to have to fill a board with the size of our MRAs, we just really anticipate a huge number of applications… If you look at what is required, you’re going to want expertise in commercial real estate or development, or architecture, or affordable housing or financing, and we have limited people whose time is very limited that would be able to serve on a board in that capacity, and we know that from our other boards and commissions – keeping them full is very challenging,” Laurent said. “It would make it a two-step process with noticing and public hearings. We would have to come up with a process for if a project does not get a recommendation or does it have to get a positive recommendation before it gets to Council. Outlining the processes would be difficult.”
Councilor Theresa Cull asked if County staff has an MRA review committee that’s meeting on a regular basis and coming up with ideas for these MRAs that Council is not aware of.
“We do not have a staff review committee. What we have is, when we get an application, and it’s almost identical to LEDA, we review it for completeness and then we go back and forth to make sure we have the information (we need) and then we work with the finance department and the attorney’s department to make sure that we are compliant and have the information we need. The (County) Manager makes the decision that it’s ready for review and decision,” Laurent replied.
Councilor Cull asked, “If someone brings you an idea for an MRA and you don’t like it, is it still going to go through that process?”
“We at this point are encouraging everybody to make an application. We’re not saying if we don’t like it, we’re not going to move forward. What we’re saying is if is complete and compliant and then we will bring it forward,” Laurent responded.
Councilor Cull noted that when an application goes on the Council agenda, Council has an opportunity for public comment.
“For some things that we think are a big deal, we have been giving a presentation first, delaying decisions on things so that we make sure we get plenty of public input. Do you anticipate a similiar process for something like an MRA?” Cull asked.
Laurent responded, “Absolutely, I think it would be very similar to what you saw with Ubiquidi’s LEDA recently, where even the applicant would be able to come forward, and we could encourage that to be part of the presentation, and answer questions.”
Councilor David Reagor said that with the MRA process and also with the LEDA process, he feels like another board or commission is needed “that acts as a source of public input and also consists of business people from the community”.
“I agree it might be hard to staff quickly. It might be a little hard to pull together but a background with retail and financing would be very useful for the public to have input. Doing it at the end, you just end up dropping the final product on the public and it’s a little bit late to get their input when yoiu sort of have completed everything. We need an MRA commission and a LEDA commission… dealing with all the applications that come in and explaining why things are low priorities or high priorities,” Reagor said.
Councilor Melanee Hand said her past input was that she supported other input that includes community members.
“It takes a while but I think that’s what we need to do. Council builds transparency in the community that way. Any work that we do where we take public input takes longer…. Getting public input takes longer. I still believe we have to have that kind of input,” Hand said.
Councilor Beverly Neal-Clinton asked if the MRA is smaller because of physical limitations or if it is is something else.
Laurent responded that other communities have larger populations and their downtowns are not just a single street ot maybe two streets but actually a full several miles of a grid or older buildings that have been abandoned and need to be rehabbed.
“A large vacated parcel like an old mall or something that’s no longer there so there’s a lot of community input into what the future of that might be because the public has some ownership. I want to be very clear. It’s certainly Council’s decision,” Laurent said. “My hesitation on supporting an additional commission largely has to do with the number of applications and the fact that they’re all private properties so the County is not really driving the applications that come in in that request. It is truly just the property owners that we’re trying to incentivize by creating the MRA, and trying to figure out if the County can be part of bridging the gap of what seems to be so difficult for developers to be able to fund and pencil a redevelopment. I think we’ve heard it through our community survey. We’ve heard it through the Council’s strategic goals that we’re trying to get these private parcels redeveloped. They’re not ours but we want to try to figure out if there’s something we can do.”
She said the County is just trying to find projects that it can help and that the community wants to see something happen with the vacant parcels.
Council Chair Randall Ryti asked if a citizen board is allowed for LEDA. Laurent responded that she believes that Council as a Home Rule can create advisory boards as needed for these LEDA and MRAs if they are in an advisory capacity and that Council maintains the is authority over the decision making for the general fund dollars to be expended.
“I think with MRA there is latitude to delegate that in some specific fashion. It is very detailed and it has to be very well-defined,” she said.
Chair Ryti pointed out that the commission was a discussion only item on the agenda and that it would have to be placed on the agenda for an action item for a future meeting. wanted a commission.
Only two members of the public – James Wernicke and Lisa Shin spoke in support of creating a commission that includes local entrepreneurs. Wernicke noted that MRAs are not just planning tools; that they determine how incentives are constructed, how redevelopment projects are evaluated and whether revitalization succeeds on the ground. He said for that reason, it benefits most when it includes those who have lived through navigating the local business environment.
“Including local business also strengthens transparency and trust. Including local business on the commission is a concrete, low cost way to way to involved local business,” Wernicke said.
Lisa Shin said she has been talking about the MRA commission issue for about a year and a half now.
“I strongly support a citizen-led MRA commission because we need the independent oversight and we need members of the public, businesses, people who have a stake in the community to have direct input in the application process,’ Shin said. “I do believe it would be very effective and powerful for staff and business owners to be able to evaluate the applications for MRA funds and based on their experience and being in town a very long time – there’s no reason why the MRA commission wouldn’t work closely with the County staff.”
She said she believes an MRA commission is needed for “the best transparency”.
“I’m afraid that without this MRA commission, what’s happening is that these meetings are being closed,” Shin said, referring to a Zoom meeting that she said involved with Columbus Capital, County Community Development Manager Eli Isaacson, Laurent and others present. She said there were four lawyers on the Zoom call and it was closed .
“The only link that I could see was on County Manager’s personal cellphone. I question that. I don’t think it’s appropriate. The public would have wanted to be there. The County Councilors should have been there. It is very, very important to know what Columbus Capital is up to…. I believe an MRA commission would prevent those types of meetings,” Shin said.
The County’s public information on MRAs can be viewed atL