BY SUE BARNES
Los Alamos

Los Alamos County’s Comprehensive Plan — our 10-year development road map — is being revised. It gets a lot right: supporting infill development, affordable housing, and downtown revitalization, while preserving our neighborhoods and natural environment. The draft repeatedly recommends policies that “…ensure that open spaces, natural resources, scenic landscapes, and recreational lands remain protected for future generations.”

Yet the same document proposes a new land use category, “Conservation Residential,” which would identify County-owned open spaces (currently zoned Open Space Active or Passive) for “new residential development.” The Plan map highlights several heavily-used recreation areas in Los Alamos and White Rock as suited to this reclassification — but the text indicates that all current open space should be evaluated for possible development.

It’s unclear why the Plan both champions protecting natural spaces and proposes evaluating all of them for development. But I know what these spaces are worth to me in their natural state. I plan to comment via the County’s site (before Sept 9; draft Plan and comment link at https://www.planlosalamos.org), and to email LAC Planning (planning@losalamosnm.gov), the Plan preparers CZB (PlanLosAlamos@czb.org), and County Council (CountyCouncil@lacnm.us), asking that the “Conservation Residential” designation and its associated maps (pp.42-43) be dropped entirely.

This is the first draft review — now is the time to tell the County we want our open spaces protected!

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