Residents press county on Madrid water backup, transfer-of-development-rights delays; Los Alamos expansion draws public concern

At the Board of County Commissioners’ matters of public concern session March 25, three speakers raised distinct community issues: a Madrid resident asked for county assistance to secure funds for backup well drilling; a TDR (transfer-of-development-rights) landowner urged faster county processing and a land bank to hold rights; and a representative of the Los Alamos Study Group urged the county to oppose expanded plutonium pit production at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Madrid water backup request David (first name in transcript recorded as Bowden) spoke for the Madrid mutual domestic water consumers association, describing a history of shallow wells in Madrid and the community’s lack of a backup source. He said the community has roughly $124,000 on hand from a prior project and that U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján’s office had signaled potential support of about $100,000; he urged county facilitation and noted that drilling three test wells (estimated $300,000) could produce at least one usable backup well.

TDR program delays Julie Bennett spoke about her family’s participation in the county’s transfer-of-development-rights (TDR) program. Bennett said she and her husband invested more than $35,000 and nearly eight years in the TDR process; she said a proposed buyer (identified in the meeting as “Doctor Horton”) withdrew an application last week and that the county’s TDR certification for her development rights has been pending nearly five months. Bennett urged the county to create a development-rights bank to buy certificates from vulnerable owners, fund the bank with public or private monies (not by selling public land TDRs), streamline the certification process and proactively promote the TDR option to developers.

Los Alamos environmental impact statement comment Greg Mello of the Los Alamos Study Group urged the county to strengthen comments on the draft site-wide environmental impact statement for Los Alamos National Laboratory, noting the draft’s “no-action” alternative nonetheless includes extensive new construction, pit-production capacity and infrastructure. Mello asked the county to oppose plutonium pit production at LANL and questioned the draft’s treatment of surge capacity.

Ending: The public-comment period closed after those in chambers and online completed remarks. Commissioners and staff indicated they will follow up with appropriate offices and noted the items for future staff work or responses where applicable.