MYTHS AWAY !

by Fran Berting, Los Alamos County Councilor

Many myths have been generated in fertile Los Alamos minds as they contemplate voting on Ordinance 529. However, brilliant imagination can have its downside when not versed in the facts. So, here are some of the necessary facts.

Myth: The Council sneakily bundled the critical projects into one ordinance to force a yes vote on the Airport Basin Site project.
Fact: The Council bundled the projects into Ordinance 529 to save several hundred thousand dollars in bond issuance fees and to provide the opportunity to catch the low but then-rising interest rates.

Myth: If Ordinance 529 passes, the Council will proceed full speed ahead, with no more discussion.
Fact: If Ordinance 529 passes, each project will go through the full approval process, with planning, public discussion, P&Z hearing, Council hearing and all that goes with actually issuing the necessary portion of the bonds.

Myth: Our population cannot support the retail, housing and office space being proposed nor find the workers to man the retail.
Fact: Market studies have shown that Los Alamos should be supporting 20% more local shopping than we currently are; the proposed plans are projected to succeed if we support only 9% more local shopping. That increase is not unreasonable, given that all citizen surveys in the last several years have indicated a strong desire for more local shopping. The worker problem is widespread throughout Northern New Mexico–better interurban transportation and more truly affordable housing here in Los Alamos should help.

Myth: The Trinity Place will cause the stores in our “center blocks” area to close.
Fact: These businesses should see more customer traffic as customers stay in town, which is what keeps stores in business. Many will change their line of goods a bit to find a special niche. Several businesses welcome the prospect of more activity between 20th Street and DP Road.

Myth: The County should refurbish the “downtown” close to the Post Office, rather than stretching “downtown” all the way to DP Road.
Fact: The entire region between Oppenheimer Street and DP Road is part of the “Downtown Plan”. The County does not own any appreciable piece of the land in the old “downtown” (except for a small piece at Lavy Lane) and so has little control over what is done there. Some current owners have very forward-looking plans for the area, but the plans do not have support from all the necessary landowners.

Myth: There has not been due diligence in determining the best sources of funding for the Schools and the best use of the various pieces of property on the Trinity Site.
Fact: Various aspects of this project have been the focus of more than two years of intense study by staff and expert consultants. No one has come up with a better solution to the School funding problems that provides incremental operational funds and new maintenance facilities at less cost to the schools while increasing their bonding capacity for funding new schools.

Myth: It would be much cheaper to put the new maintenance facilities on A-8 or A-15.
Fact: A-8 and A-15 were given to the Schools to use for economic benefit. Maintenance facilities do not bring in any revenue. The Schools’ consultant has determined that it would cost the same or a bit more to build the Schools’ facilities on A-15, and doing so would not take advantage of savings from the planned sharing of some facilities with the County and would deprive the Schools of the future revenue from development of A-15.

Myth: There are other sources of funding for all the projects that could potentially be funded from the 529 bonds.
Fact: Without the issuance of bonds, the Airport Basin Project has no major source of funds, so the project would require a very long time to complete, thereby missing the opportunity for a large developer to find the Site attractive. The Capital Improvement Plan for the Bypass Road shows $6 million from land sales, but the land sales will not take place for several years and the Bypass Road is needed now.

Myth: The Boyer Company will take their money and leave town.
Fact: One of the factors in our selection of the Boyer Company is that they stay and manage the development, communicating with their renters to follow their success, and provide alternate renters for space when necessary. The agreement being formulated between the County, the Schools and Boyer will address what happens if they should choose to leave.