Los Alamos County Launches Survey to Shape 2026 Comprehensive Plan

Ten years after Los Alamos County adopted its Comprehensive Plan, county officials have launched a public survey to begin rewriting it, with County Manager Anne Laurent framing the timeline plainly: "It's been 10 years, and best practice is to update it every five years."

The Plan Los Alamos community survey opened March 11, marking the first broad public outreach step in the 2026 comprehensive-plan update process. The online survey is open to residents, business owners, community partners, and local workforce members, casting a wide net at the outset of a process that will ultimately reshape county policy on land use, housing, transportation, infrastructure, economic development, and environmental stewardship.

Laurent identified a second key driver beyond the overdue timeline: the need to fold in policy documents the County Council has adopted since 2016, most notably the master plans for Downtown Los Alamos and Downtown White Rock. Without integrating those adopted strategies, the Comprehensive Plan would remain out of step with decisions the county has already made about its two main commercial corridors.

The planning process will be guided by two committees that Isaacson described during a recent briefing, though the names and membership of those bodies have not yet been made public. Isaacson, who identified stakeholder involvement as one of three major focus areas for the update, emphasized that public engagement will not be limited to committee members. Open houses, public workshops, and a project website where residents can submit comments are all part of the outreach structure alongside the March survey.

The County Council was briefed on the process and timeline and took no action, consistent with the informational nature of an early-phase update.

The Comprehensive Plan functions as the county's long-range policy framework, establishing overall direction, goals, and priorities for future growth and development. Updating it now means the version that guides Los Alamos County's next decade will reflect the priorities of White Rock's revitalized downtown corridor and the vision already articulated for central Los Alamos, rather than conditions as they stood a decade ago.