League of Women Voters Report Details County, School Board Joint Meeting

Dan Osborn, the county's Housing and Special Project Manager, stood before a joint session of the Los Alamos County Council and the Los Alamos Public Schools Board on February 26 to update both bodies on plans for the North Mesa tract, a 30-acre parcel that has quietly shifted from reserved school land to one of the community's most closely watched affordable housing prospects.

The League of Women Voters of Los Alamos Observer Corps summarized the meeting in a report published March 12, extending a civic monitoring practice the organization has maintained for years through its monthly newsletter.

The North Mesa tract sits between Los Alamos Middle School and the North Mesa Sports Complex, a strip of land LAPS acquired in 1967 from the U.S. Department of Energy and held for decades as a reserve for future school facilities. That designation held until 2019, when the site was re-envisioned as a potential answer to the county's persistent need for affordable workforce housing.

Studies followed in quick succession. A conceptual housing analysis completed by Dekker between 2019 and 2022 determined the site could support approximately 210 to 360 mixed-density housing units. A subsequent feasibility analysis by Economic & Planning Systems, conducted from 2022 to 2023, narrowed the focus further, recommending the development prioritize housing affordable to LAPS teachers and other local workforce members.

By December 2023, LAPS and Los Alamos County had signed a Memorandum of Agreement formalizing each party's roles and responsibilities on the project. The February 26 joint meeting represented the latest formal touchpoint between the two governing bodies as the project moves through its planning stages.

Osborn's presentation drew from the meeting agenda packet, according to the Observer Corps summary. LAPS recorded the session, though the report's published links to the recording were left blank, leaving the video's location unconfirmed. The complete attendee list, any public comment, proposed timelines, and funding details were not captured in the summary.

The Observer Corps, a volunteer monitoring arm of the League of Women Voters of Los Alamos, has expanded its reach this year by submitting reports directly to the Los Alamos Reporter in addition to the LWV's internal newsletter.