Carl Iverson
11/18/2020
Dear Chairwoman Ben-Naim and Board Members,
I would like to express my concern regarding the North Mesa Development MOA. A significant number of Los Alamos community members believe that the development on the North Mesa LAPS land is exclusively for teacher/staff housing, or that a significant number of houses will be available for teachers/staff, and that a concrete plan is in place regarding how this will be achieved. It appears that the community has been operating under a misconception that the development plan for teachers has been fully thought through, researched, and published.
Teacher/staff housing and revenue generation is mentioned in every meeting that the public has been invited to, leading people to believe that the complexities surrounding this issue have been resolved, whereas it is only an intention and not a clear plan at this point. The MOA should not be signed without these complexities being fully addressed or without a transparent proposal on how to provide affordable teacher/staff housing and the desired revenue generation for the school district, since those are the stated goals. This is not something to resolve after the signing of an MOA or to leave the county to develop.
Some questions that seem
unclear are, how does the state funding formula work, and does the state fund us
$1 less for everyone $1 the district makes? If so, how can the district make
money from the land?
Despite statements to the contrary by the School Board and County Council, this subject has not been communicated very well with the community. There have only been a few public meetings, which were not well-advertised or attended by the public-at-large, excluding the School Board and County Council in that count. In fact, many community members are not aware of what has been planned so far (broad density housing development) and what has not been properly planned (affordable housing designated for teachers/staff and revenue generation). Anecdotally, the first response I hear from many people regarding this development is “I thought it was going to be housing for teachers.” This strikes me as a miscommunication or a lack of communication with the Los Alamos community.
Carl Iverson