By KIRSTEN LASKEY
Los Alamos Daily Post
kirsten@ladailypost.com

For the list of potential sites for new tennis courts, Los Alamos County Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to strike two off the list.

Council voted 7-0 to remove Mesa Meadows and Urban Park from the study evaluating possible locations for additional tennis courts. The remaining sites to be considered are North Mesa and Overlook Park. The removal of Mesa Meadows and Urban Park were the result of two citizen petitions. During public comment, there was almost unanimous support for deleting these two sites from consideration.

“…Honestly, my first thought was that where you proposed to put it is on the hill where the kids go sledding,” resident and petitioner Raymond Joggerst said regarding the Urban Park site. “In Los Alamos we have hills that end in ponds, hills that end in streets, but we have precisely one hill that ends in a place where you don’t get run over or drown and that’s Urban Park.”

“We entirely support the tennis community,” resident Tom Fairbanks said. “We really want them to be able to have these tournaments … we just don’t think that the Western Area Park, Mesa Meadow Park is really the appropriate place. It is very small. It would need to remove 5-6 trees. We really thank you for the consideration.”

One resident urged council to never consider Mesa Meadows for any future developments.

“…I would hope with these neighborhood parks that we are considering that these be granted some type of protection from future consideration,” he said. “Western Area Park is the heart of the design. It is madness to consider disrupting it.”

Constructing new tennis courts, according to the County staff report, was originally associated with the 2017 Recreation Bond. The project’s goal is to offer a tennis complex that contains eight courts in one location to allow for hosting tennis tournaments at a central facility. In the FY2022 budget hearings, council approved $150,000 for the project. It is further stated in the staff report that studies for the project haven’t started and Council’s direction is needed to finalize the full scope of services required.

In other business, council:

• Appointed Keith Lepsch to an open seat on Los Alamos County Council.
• Unanimously passed a resolution that requests the Department of Energy to vacate the Atomic Energy Commission’s decision in 1954 to not reinstate Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer’s security clearance.
• Unanimously approved to have the County proceed with the removal of the Hilltop House Hotel and lien the property for the reasonable costs of its removal. County Manager Steven Lynne read a letter by John Rizzo of New Mexico Innovation Triangle, which owns the property, that supported this move. In the letter, Rizzo said, “While we made some progress, we have not made enough progress and I am not satisfied with the outcomes to date. As a member of the community who lives in the area, I find it critical in situations like this to consider what the right thing to do is first for the community … the right thing to do is having the County take the ball from here – that would be the best course forward.”
• Unanimously approved the County Assessor’s valuation and maintenance plan.
• Approved 6-1, with Councilor Keith Lepsch abstaining, to approve an amendment to the purchase, sale and development agreement of property located at 3661 and 3689 Trinity Dr, which will be the future site for Pet Pangaea. The amendment, according to the staff report, is to extend the due diligence period by 180 days.
• Introduced an ordinance for amending an economic development project for public support for the benefit of Pebble Labs.