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Site Southwest presents consolidated Trails and Open Space Management Plan to county; identifies maintenance, education and accessibility as priorities
Summary
Site Southwest and county staff summarized a consolidated open space and trails plan that merges several older plans into a single document; the plan prioritizes maintenance, public education, accessibility improvements and an implementation schedule with short/medium/long term actions.
Site Southwest presented the updated Los Alamos County Trails and Open Space Management Plan to council on Oct. 7, outlining a consolidation of multiple earlier planning documents and a prioritized list of strategies for maintenance, accessibility and education.
The consultant, Allison Long, said the study combined an inventory of county trails and amenities with public engagement conducted between April and August and reconciled conflicting recommendations from numerous earlier plans. “A lot of effort went into consolidation and reorganization,” Long said, noting the draft plan streamlines more than 160 prior strategies into a manageable implementation framework with short, medium and long‑term priorities.
Key takeaways: the plan highlights six strategic areas — maintenance and sustainable trail design, public education and etiquette, network signage and wayfinding, accessibility improvements, data and reporting, and funding/partnerships. Accessibility emerged as an area where the public sought deeper attention; the plan includes a chapter dedicated to ADA and inclusive trail access.
County staff highlighted the need to update the single document regularly so that staff and the community have a shared reference for prioritizing projects. Eric Peterson, the county open space specialist, said the plan will help the county make consistent decisions and target limited maintenance dollars.
Next steps: Site Southwest included an implementation appendix that assigns short, medium and long term timing to each recommended strategy. Long said the consolidated plan is intended to replace multiple older documents with a single reference that staff and community partners can update in future cycles.
Ending: Councilors asked the consultant for information about outreach numbers and next steps; Long said she would provide participation counts and continue to refine the draft in response to staff and public feedback. The plan will return to the county for formal adoption and incorporation into project prioritization and budget planning.
