County Streets Standards Resolution passes Council

Last night, the "Resolution on the Policy for the Design of Public Streets and Rights-of-Way in Los Alamos County", Resolution 10-32, passed Council on a vote of 6-1. Thank you to all who worked on this, especially to T-Board member Janie O'Rourke and Community Development Director Rick Bohn, and to Council for its patience and constructive criticism as we muddled through in order to get this ready for Prime Time.

This document will be of considerable help as we look forward to considerable change in the downtown area and in the NM-502 Corridor, just as the 2005 "Los Alamos bike plan" (not the official name) gave us the neccesary guidance for rebuilding Diamond Drive. This stuff matters.

Khal Spencer, Transportation Board Chair

Text is here, at least for now. I'm including the "Whereas" jazz below.

WHEREAS, the Los Alamos County Council has established six (6) main Strategic Goals, three (3) of which are “Enhance Environmental Quality and Sustainability”, “Improve Transportation and Mobility”, and “Diversify the Economy/Revitalize White Rock and Los Alamos Downtowns”; and

WHEREAS, the Council has established a series of Strategic Objectives to carry out these goals, including objectives to “Incorporate smart growth concepts”, “Pursue community-wide independence from hydrocarbon energy sources”, “Promote and expand regional transit organization”, “Develop a Transportation Master Plan”, and “Improve downtowns by attracting at least $30 million of private investment and making available $6 million of public funds”; and

WHEREAS, recent advances in the practice of traffic engineering and urban planning have developed new “best practices” for the design of streets that better accommodate the needs of private vehicles, transit riders, pedestrians, cyclists, and those with disabilities, while enhancing safety and convenience for all users; and

WHEREAS, a consistent policy on the development of streets and rights-of-way in the County that supports consideration of all modes of transportation during the design process will help to achieve Council’s three aforementioned Strategic Goals.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the Incorporated County of Los Alamos that the “Policy for the Design of Streets and Rights-of-Way in Los Alamos County” (Attachment “A”) shall be adopted as the official policy of the County.

PASSED AND ADOPTED this 9th day of November, 2010.