The Los Alamos County Parks and Recreation Board met on Thursday, February 12, 2026, at 5:30 PM at 1000 Central Avenue. The meeting covered approval of prior minutes, officer elections, a CSD agency performance review update, staff reports on ongoing projects, and extensive discussion on integrating North Mesa recreational planning. Public comments emphasized the need for a comprehensive vision for North Mesa parks.
All right, good evening, everybody. We'll call the meeting to order. Um before we get started. Uh any public comment on items not currently on the agenda. I did make it so you get to listen to me again. Lisa Reeder, 3217 Woodland. Um you guys uh I I know uh Chair Watkins received it because he did send me a reply, but um I wasn't sure. Thank you guys. I wasn't sure I'd make it tonight because this is my third uh meeting this week. I know others do it as well, but um I just wanted to really reiterate the fact that it it was very evident last night, and I'm I believe Vice Chair Cowan would agree that um we really need comprehensive planning for all of the recreational areas on North Mesa. The consultants last night uh were sort of kind of aware that there was a picnic area and sort of aware there was this Loma Linda Park area, but not really. And there's just no comprehensive overarching vision for all of the recreational facilities on North Mesa, which are very closely aligned, closely, you know, and close together. So you know, already you guys have approved the artificial turf study, which is really the North Mesa ball fields, and you have approved the North Mesa Park Master Plan. But we have all those other parks, and several of them have not even been looked at for either feasibility study, conceptual design, or master plan. And I just really think it's gonna come back and bite the county in the butt when it comes time for budgeting. It really will. And I I just think it would be very helpful if you guys could look at all those parks as a whole and put together a recommendation for council on all those parks as a whole and all those projects as a whole. So thank you for all the work you do and really appreciate it. All right, thank you, Ms. Reader. Hi, Carol Braunes, 1618 Comina UVA. And um, this is our third meeting this week, which is partly because all these little things are disjointed, and so we have to keep coming to meetings and saying the same things over and over and over again. And if there was a comprehensive, we could probably say it once and not be out every night at meetings. But um so I I agree with everything Lisa said, but uh additionally at the meeting last night, they said well there's no definite plan for a parking lot. And the consensus was I think, Jerry, you can tell me if I'm wrong, but the consensus was we don't want a parking lot in there. It doesn't make sense for a lot of reasons. Uh for one thing that didn't get mentioned last night is that if they put the parking lot where they want, it's a really steep slope down into there. If we're doing it to accommodate um sledders, those drivers aren't well, one is the the sledders could run into the cars, which you don't want. But two, the drivers are not gonna get out of that parking lot in the winter. It's it's gonna be iced over. So with that said, again, the group last night, they were looking only at that area. There are alternatives for parking. We Lisa mentioned the the um picnic area. We talked about that last night. I can understand that sledders at the end of sledding don't want to hike all the way back up the hill. But there is also a flat area, um, kitty corner across that would be on the um east, northeast kind of side of the golf course. A lot of people park over there. That would just require putting in some kind of a a light or something to make sure people can get across. But the problem is the group that was here that is evaluating the need for evaluating how to put a parking lot in there is not even looking at those other alternatives. And that's the real concern. All they're looking at is that. So my understanding is the county is paying for a survey, and my thought is you don't need a survey, look at a topo map. It does not make sense to drive down that steep hill, cross all the traffic of anybody who happens to be riding a bike or a horse or hiking along there and putting in a parking lot. So again, there's the need for this bigger picture. If you're not putting the parking lot there, where are you going to put it? And the I my impression is the group last night was not that's not in their purview to look at where else can we put a parking lot? So thank you. Thank you, Ms. Branas. Any other public comments or items not on the agenda?