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

Operating food trucks in Los Alamos got a boost after Los Alamos County unanimously approved an ordinance to include mobile food vending in the County’s code during its regular meeting Tuesday evening.

According to the staff report, the ordinance addresses mobile food vending on private land, public land and public right-of-way within Los Alamos County.

It was further stated in the report that the ordinance was created in response to the increase demand and interest from local business owners to obtain a business license for food trucks.

Los Alamos County Senior Planner Sobia Sayeda spoke about the local interest in pursuing mobile food vending.

“The existing businesses were in support of providing mobile food vending opportunities … we had numerous interests in acquiring space for mobile food vendors,” Sayeda said. “The second part of that is while we were conducting surveys of neighboring jurisdictions and looked at their current, adopted mobile food ordinances, we found that there were provisions that they took and we used those as guidelines. We determined that mobile food needs to be a certain distance from brick and mortal restaurants so that they don’t compete with all the established businesses … there was extensive research that was done from other jurisdictions.”

Council Vice Chair Denise Derkacs echoed the community’s support for food trucks as well as the need to not have the ordinance hinder established businesses.

“The survey and other forms of public input indicate there is community support for mobile food vending,” she said. “I think these services are especially important for events and weekends when many of our local restaurants are closed, but I think it is important to balance the location of the vendors with our established restaurants, so it doesn’t interfere their businesses. We want to make sure the community can support all these things.”

In other business, council:

• Unanimously approved an ordinance to authorize the execution of the Drinking Water State Revolving Loan for repainting the Barranca Mesa Tank II.
• Unanimously approved an ordinance to authorize the execution of the Drinking Water State Revolving Loan for the replacement of water production motor controls and association electrical and mechanical equipment in the County’s water production system that contains 12 wells and 18 booster stations.
• Unanimously approved a $4.7 million bid for the reconstruction project on Canyon Road as well as an additional $5.6 million for roadway and utility work.
• Unanimously approved inflation pay for Los Alamos County employees.
• Heard from County Manager Steven Lynne regarding the fire restrictions, which had closed County-owned unpaved trails. He emphasized the County is very empathetic to the community’s concerns to closing any County facility, service or amenity. Closures of any kind are not taken lightly, Lynne said.  “It is a very significant decision. That is certainly the case here.” However, he added he does support the fire department’s decision and that the process is continuously re-evaluated. In other fire-related news, Lynne said the County is reaching out to other communities that have been greatly impacted by wildfires to offer assistance.
• Learned from Lynne that the asbestos abatement has begun on the Hilltop House Hotel and a task order for demolition is expected to be brought forward in June.
• Heard that regarding wastewater testing for COVID, Lynne said the County had to re-enroll in the program since a new contractor was hired for the Federally-managed program.
• Unanimously approved updated federal priorities. Council Chair Randall Ryti reported that these priorities include a legislative request for extending the period for land transfer conveyance to 10 years. The land parcels primarily being focused on are Rendija Canyon and TA-21. He added a team is looking at identifying other land parcels for potential transfers. Ryti further reported several categories were identified for seeking federal funding. These categories include: sustainable energy, housing, economic development, social services and transportation. The final priority is to continue to support cleanup missions, which include middle DP Road and MDA-T (part of TA-21), as well as funding for the chromium plume.
• Unanimously approved the Memorandum of Understanding with City of Española and Rio Arriba County for a Regional Strategic Projects Fund.
• Unanimously approved the FY23 Boards and Commissions Work Plans.