BY STEPHANIE NAKHLEH
Los Alamos

I am writing to support David Hampton for Los Alamos County Council.

I served with David on the Planning and Zoning Commission from 2021 to 2025, and last year I wrote in support of his run for the UNM-LA Advisory Board. Everything I said then about his work ethic still stands. But a moment at the Sept. 23 Planning and Zoning meeting gave me another reason to vote for him.

The commission was discussing the draft comprehensive plan. One commissioner argued that homeowners, including the retirees who he estimated own a quarter to a third of Los Alamos houses, have an interest in high prices, and that pushing to make housing more affordable could hurt property owners.

David spoke next. First, he recommended that the comprehensive plan be very specific about the changes needed in the development code, including “parking minimums, ADUs, single family residential changes, by-right development, minimum house size, minimum lot size, and setbacks.” Aspirational plans, he said, sometimes never make it into the code. That incongruence between plan and code is a major reason our housing shortage has persisted.

Then he explained why he cares. “I come at it from housing as more of a human dignity issue,” he said. Of the people we recruit to work here, he said, “to expect them to not be able to live here and take advantage of our schools and other amenities, I think it’s kind of hard-hearted.” The community has always existed to support the Lab, he noted; the Lab’s mission has expanded, and the town needs to respond by making room for more people to live here. That includes everyone whose workday is in Los Alamos. (More than half of the County government’s own employees commute from outside the county.)

He also called the proposed “conservation residential” designation for open space premature, because Los Alamos still has so many infill opportunities. Some residents who spoke against building on open space that night made the same point. Growing inside the town we already have is how we protect the trails we love. But we actually have to do the growing.

I’m a homeowner, and I care about resale value too. The evidence from Auckland, New Zealand, which allowed more homes on most of its residential land in 2016, is reassuring: lots with room for more homes gained value, even as new construction kept prices well below where they would otherwise have gone. So upzoning was a real win-win. (We have to go to another country to see evidence like this, because American cities have been much more reluctant to allow more housing—but similar reforms are beginning to pay off closer to home, as well.)

As important as money is, I think homeowners in Los Alamos have more at stake than resale value: many of us have grown kids who’d like to move back; we’d prefer a lively downtown with enough customers for small businesses to survive; and we may want to trade, eventually, a big house for a smaller one without leaving town—which only works if smaller homes get built.

Many of the changes David asked for will arrive gradually, one lot at a time: a backyard cottage here, a smaller house on a smaller lot there. We want the nurses and firefighters who save our rears to be able to live here, and David gets that. He also gets that high prices put all of it out of reach, and that families are struggling every day. If we want the people who teach our children and staff our clinics to be our neighbors, we need a Council that makes room for them. David is running for a Los Alamos where more people can make a home—including the people already here every day, keeping the place running.

I serve on the Plan Los Alamos steering committee and have pushed for many of the same reforms. What I value in David, beyond our shared vision, is that he pairs conviction with homework. He walks the streets, reads the documents, listens to concerns, and sits through meetings (so many meetings) he isn’t required to attend. When he asks for a plan that changes the code and not just the rhetoric, I believe he means it, and that’s what I’ll expect from him on Council.

Please vote for David Hampton for County Council on Nov. 3.