Los Alamos County Parks and Recreation Board Meeting - June 11, 2026
Los Alamos County Parks and Recreation Board Meeting - June 11, 2026
The Parks and Recreation Board met on June 11, 2026, at 12:45 PM to discuss safety improvements at Ashley Pond, working group assignments, open space updates, staff reports, and council communications. The board approved minutes from the previous meeting and received community input on bollard designs.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes Approval: The board unanimously approved the minutes from the May 14, 2026, meeting. Motion carried with all members voting in favor.
Discussion Items
- Ashley Pond Safety Improvements Design: Jennifer from the county presented three design options for crash-rated barriers to replace the current Jersey barriers: (1) Peer option (bollards that double as seats), (2) Planter option (mix of bollards and planters), and (3) Natural rock option (four-ton boulders with native plantings). A community survey had received 386 responses as of June 10, with the natural rock option leading at 271 votes (70%), followed by planters (65 votes) and peers (50 votes). The survey closes June 28. The board discussed costs (approximately $100,000 each, with rocks potentially cheaper if internally sourced), maintenance, emergency access, and historic compatibility. The board moved to recommend that city council adopt the option that receives the most community support upon survey closure. The motion passed 5-0.
- Working Group Discussion: The board reviewed the roles of three working groups: Bike Park, Open Space, and Equine & Livestock. Chair Watkins clarified that working groups must receive specific, time-limited tasks from the board and cannot self-assign. For the Bike Park Working Group, members had been asked by county staff to seek letters of support from national organizations for grants. The board agreed to formalize tasking via a project plan form (modeled after the Art in Public Places board's form) and to make working group updates a recurring agenda item. The Open Space Working Group's adopt-a-trail program and community outreach were noted as continuing tasks. The Equine & Livestock Working Group will be discussed at a future meeting.
- Open Space Presentation: Eric Peterson, Open Space Specialist, reported on volunteer events: 10 volunteers on Celebrate Trails Day (April 15) built rock bridges; 8 volunteers on May 16 moved 5 cubic yards of dirt and built water diversions; 11 volunteers on National Trails Day (June 6) moved another 5 cubic yards. The adopt-a-trail program with N3B covered graffiti near School Canyon Rim Trail. The on-call contractor replaced a bridge to equestrian standards. Operational projects included retreating Kicknock Park and starting the Youth Conservation Corps (YCC) on June 1, who built a rock wall. Upcoming projects include the Bio Canyon Trailhead Redevelopment and a public meeting for Los Alamos Mesa Trail (June 24, 90% design review). Next volunteer event is July 11.
- Staff Reports: Catherine reported that all 70 slots for painting the Ashley Pond Jersey barriers have been reserved. Activity guides are available. Pinon Park Pool reopened after a boiler issue; solar showers are in use. Events: Splash and Dash (June 18), dive-in movies (June 17), triathlon virtual with awards July 18. Golf course open Tuesday–Sunday. Volleyball tournament July 11-12 with new kids' division. Fair and Rodeo August 7-9. 4th of July will feature a drone show on Dara Jones Soccer Field due to fireworks restrictions. Spero Field opening expected August 2026. Brewer Arena restroom construction underway; grandstand work will follow the rodeo. The board viewed the Gold Medal Award video highlighting community services.
- Council Communications: Councilor Cole updated that council approved a four-way stop at Urban and Rose, the Trinity Drive safety and ADA improvements bid, and a charter change extending board terms to three terms (to go to voters in November). Council did not approve a gas rate increase (4-3 vote); it will return. Discussion on party affiliation restrictions for advisory boards only. The FEMA grant match for the Hamas Mountain Fire Protection Project was approved. Purchase of the gymnastics building will come back for a vote.
Key Outcomes
- Motion passed: The board will recommend that city council adopt the Ashley Pond barrier design preferred by the community survey (natural rock leading).
- Working groups: The board will adopt a project plan form to formalize tasking and will review working group updates monthly.
- Future agenda items: For the next meeting (date not specified), presentations on the LA Mesa project (BHI), discussion on relocating Grand Canyon playground and rezoning, and the working group summary spreadsheet and form.
- Meeting adjourned.
Meeting Transcript
All right. Good afternoon, everybody. We'll call this meeting to order. As we open any public comment for any items that are not currently on the agenda. Okay. And we'll move on. First order of business approval of the minutes from May 14th, 2026. Any discussion from board members on those minutes. Okay. Anybody like to make a motion to approve those minutes. I move that we accept the minutes from the May 14th, 2026 meeting as presented. I second the motion. All right. Vote. All in favor. Aye. Aye. Paula, are you online? I'm online. I agree. Yes. All right. Thank you. All right. Next item presentation and possible action giving recommendation on Ashley Pond safety improvements design. Everybody should have a copy of that in their packets. Hi, Chair, uh members. Thank you so much for letting me do this presentation today. So the whole purpose of this, as you know, when we get on see news in the media, we often see where a car has either intentionally or accidentally departed from a road. And it results in often pedestrian injuries and sometimes fatalities, especially when it's a purposeful departure. And so it came to the attention of the county that we have large crowds out at Ashley Pond, and that this could be a scenario that would be really horrible for the community. So uh the county's been moving forward with taking safety measures. As you know, we got the Jersey barriers out there right now. And um we were hoping to have some bollard items in place for this year, but uh we learned that there are a lot of options of bollards out there. There's a lot of different ways you can go. And uh we uh at Anne Lawrence's suggestion, we move forward with a landscape architect groundwork studio. And I'm so glad that we did because I think this really gave us some good ideas just having the graphics, because before we were just looking at bollards and trying to imagine what they would like look like in that space. Uh we did go to the historic board yesterday and get a recommendation from them. And they um uh and also to make sure that all three of these designs met what they would consider keeping the historic atmosphere. We do know Ashley Pond is a marquee location for Los Alamos, so that's really important to us to make sure that we keep that ambiance and that that uh feel for it. Okay, oh we're good. I can hear you the whole time just I have the question. Okay, all right, thank you so much. All right, so um we worked with the landscape architect architect, uh, groundwork studio, and they came up with these three options to uh to move forward with. And what we're looking for is we're looking for input on which option is the preferred option. We currently have a survey out. Well, let me go through the options first. So our first option we're calling it the peer option. It has um, oh, it looks like we lost it again. Oh, there we go.
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