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

The sale of 110 Entrada was approved during the Los Alamos County Council meeting Tuesday night. The motion passed 6-0 with Councilor Keith Lepsch absent during the vote.

Los Alamos County Economic Development Administrator Dan Ungerleider described the property as a “triangular shaped” lot that is adjacent to the Los Alamos County Airport runway, behind the Los Alamos Coop Market and adjacent to the Holiday Inn Express and the former Pebble Building.

The developer, 110 Entrada LLC, plans to construct a 50,000 square foot flexible lab/office space, two 2,500 square foot greenhouse buildings and a parking lot, Ungerleider said. The purchase price of the lot is $1.6 million.

In the development agreement, the developer will need to complete several periods before the final purchase, he added. These periods include due diligence, site plan and FAA approvals as well as permit approvals. Each period will require a $20,000 deposit in earnest. If it is decided that the lot should be released back to the County, the developer will get its money back, Ungerleider said. If the developer proceeds forward, that money will be nonrefundable and will go toward the purchase price. Each period is a maximum of 180 days. If the developer needs more time for a period, then it is required to provide an additional $20,000 in earnest money. Closing on the land will not occur until all the periods are completed, Ungerleider said.

“This allows for the County to maintain ownership and it also allows for the developer … not have to pay for carry costs,” he said. “So, this is a very well-balanced agreement. It does allow for a maximum set of time (and) it does not preclude the developer from moving faster.”

Councilor Suzie Havemann made the motion to approve the sale.

She explained while she is happy to see this balanced agreement, she wonders if the County should consider, going forward, about the timeframes for what she refers to as “off-ramps” in its agreements or the time periods of the different approvals.

“I feel it holds up a property for a long period of time where then the purchaser has a lot of ways they can legitimately withdraw and granted you’ve built in some earnest money provisions but our goal is not to keep earnest money, the goal is to see improvements to property that help us achieve our overall community and county goals,” Havemann said.

In an unrelated matter, Council weighed in on the status of the County’s climate action plan. When asked what options the County should pursue regarding lowering carbon emissions, several on council expressed a desire to go big.

In a presentation to the council about the status of the climate action plan, Cascadia Consulting Group Project Manager Andrea Martin reported on greenhouse gas inventories in Los Alamos County. The community-wide emissions are estimated at 137,670 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2022. The largest contributors are building energy at 55 percent and transportation at 38 percent, she said. LANL’s emissions are not included in this due to data limitations. Specifically, regarding the County’s operations, Martin said its carbon emissions are 15,031 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2022 with the same areas as the major contributors. Sub-sources are employee commutes at 37 percent and electricity at 20 percent.

Although solid waste disposal, natural gas consumption and vehicle fleet are contributors. To address this, Martin identified reductions to include increasing commute-trip reduction strategies for County employees, decarbonize buildings and enhance energy efficiency, reduce waste generation and increase waste diversion and shift to a lower carbon vehicle fleet and equipment.

When posing to council what targets it would like to consider, Martin offered two options: one is to lower carbon emissions by 70 percent by 2050 and the other is to reduce emissions by 75 percent by 2040 and eventually achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Members of the community voiced their support for the County’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions.

A member of the Los Alamos High School Eco Club discussed the club’s own efforts at the school level. She explained the club is revising a commitment to renewable energy and plans to present an electrification resolution to the school board in April. Regarding the County’s work, she said she recommends that climate action include the building of EV charging infrastructure on County land for school buses.

“I support that Los Alamos County should take action on the ambitious targets for maximum carbon emission reduction,” she added.

Former Los Alamos Resiliency, Energy & Sustainability (LARES) Task Force member and current Board of Public Utilities chair Robert Gibson urged the County to address private residences to ensure they are being built to be more energy efficient and require less artificial heat.

Havemann agreed with Gibson’s comments. Adding she felt the County should pursue the more ambitious option to achieve net zero carbon emissions. She pointed out that this option is more in line with the LARES recommendations and the Department of Public Utilities’ goals.

Councilor Randall Ryti also offered support for working toward option two.

“I don’t think we need to be looking for a lot more evidence for what the potential negative effects are … between the less ambitious one and the more ambitious one, we’ll see where we wind up,” he said. “There are certainly a lot of options and we have partnerships … hopefully we can have partnerships with the schools and LANL … I look forward to seeing the report and seeing what the options are and having a greater explanation of some of the options with the public. I think that many in the public are expecting us to take action on these items.”

Council Chair Denise Derkacs added that she favored the more ambitious targets, depending on the costs, and looks forward to seeing the final climate action plan and hearing feedback from the community.

Councilor Lepsch also indicated his support to address climate change, explaining he would like to do everything possible to preserve the planet for his young son.

Not everyone on the council agreed.

Councilor David Reagor said he felt this “climate story” has been circulated for decades.

“The models they are using … they just never worked,” he said, adding that this just creates a burden on the middle class.

“If you are still believing in this whole story, you are kind of ridiculously gullible and it is time for people to stop harming our local people with rules and burdens for something that is not really much of an issue,” Reagor said.

In other business, council:

• Unanimously approved an ordinance to amend sections of Chapter 22 of the County Code which pertain to fire restrictions and the duties of the Fire Chief. According to the staff report, “the amendment aims to streamline the process of implementation and enforcement, thereby strengthening the County’s overall wildfire prevention strategy.” Additionally, according to the staff report, the amendment seeks to define the three levels of fire restrictions and to better align with the standards of the United States Forest Service, Los Alamos National Laboratory, National Parks Service-Bandelier, Santa Clara Pueblo and San Ildefonso Pueblo to ensure consistency and coordination in wildfire management efforts.
• Approved 6-0, with Lepsch absent during the vote, a resolution to apply to the Department of Finance and Administration, Local Government Division, to participate in the Local DWI Grant and Distribution Program. The amount of funds that will be requested is $27,000.
• Unanimously approved to provide $2 million in grant matching funds for the San Ildefonso Services’ Connect New Mexico application for a new middle mile fiber optic line that would connect White Rock to Pojoaque.