Los Alamos Reporter

LTE: Profound Disconnect Has Emerged Between Our Community’s Inputs & Priorities And The Policies Written Into The Draft 2026 Comprehensive Plan

BY KEVIN HOLSAPPLE
Los Alamos

As Los Alamos quickly moves toward finalizing the Draft 2026 Comprehensive Plan (PLAN Los Alamos), a profound disconnect has emerged between our community’s inputs & priorities and the policies written into the draft. Rather than reflecting what residents actually asked for, the document reads like a top-down blueprint that sidelines the very people who live and work here.

Evaluating how well this draft reflects public sentiment took real digging. The project website omitted public data that was collected, and my direct inquiries to the project team went unanswered. It took a formal Inspection of Public Records Act request to obtain the actual survey results. Meanwhile, steering committee members reported that meetings consisted primarily of staff and consultant presentations with minimal discussion—culminating in the final draft being given to them on the day of its public release, precluding any real chance for review or “steering”. I asked for Steering Team meeting minutes in my IPRA request, and none were provided.

This opacity masks a fundamental divergence on our county’s future, starting with population growth. In the official County survey, a clear majority of 53.45% of respondents explicitly favored planning for a stable population of around 20,000 residents focused on long-term sustainability. Yet, this majority preference is completely absent from the draft, which instead pushes for aggressive growth to accommodate ongoing job expansion at the Laboratory.

Worse yet, the plan introduces proposals that contradict community input regarding our designated open spaces. It recommends considering the redesignation of County-owned designated open spaces—including heavily used trail corridors near Walnut Canyon and the golf course—to allow housing development over the next two to five years. This idea was not a theme of public survey responses and, based on County information, is unnecessary. According to the County’s own August 2024 Affordable Housing Plan and June 2026 Housing Production Update, we already have a pipeline of 2,395 housing units, fulfilling 99.8% of the target to build 1,300 to 2,400 new units by 2029 without touching a single acre of designated open space. This is even before the possibility of housing being a part of redevelopment of Mari-Mac.

We have seen this cycle before: hiring expensive outside consultants to justify staff preferences, running performative public meetings, and treating public comment as a box to check rather than input to act upon. I have also seen the County do far better.

Public engagement must not be a performative exercise. To restore trust, our County Council, Planning and Zoning Commission, and planners must realign the draft Comprehensive Plan with actual community input by:

  1. Removing any proposal to consider redesignating existing open spaces for development. Add consideration of proper protections to existing designated open spaces, as promised by the County in December 2024.
  2. Reflecting the community’s clear preference for a stable population of around 20,000 residents.
  3. Addressing essential workforce housing needs genuinely, rather than relying on definitions that produce very few homes affordable for essential workers.
  4. Moving beyond ineffective real estate solutions to offer proactive support for local business vitality.

For those interested in diving into the weeds, you can explore the full feedback documents I submitted to the draft Comprehensive Plan project team:

I share this perspective as a retired economic & community development professional, former Los Alamos Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman, former long-term Executive Director of the Los Alamos Commerce & Development Corporation, member of the Los Alamos Local Business Coalition Steering Team, and a longtime resident who raised my family here. I understand the game being played, and I know that the County can be much more responsive if they choose to be. I want our community’s genuine voice to drive our future, not internal administrative preferences.

Letters to the editor represent the opinions of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or editorial stance of the Los Alamos Reporter. The publication assumes no responsibility or liability for the factual accuracy of statements made by contributors.