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Thursday, March 6, 2008

Edgewood Could Get $500K for Playing Fields

By Lee Ross
Mountain View Telegraph
    Even though capital outlay funds from the state Legislature were tight this year, a plan for playing fields in Edgewood might still get about $500,000.
    State Rep. Kathy McCoy and Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort put in $25,000 and $260,000, respectively.
    There may be another $200,000 appropriated as well, according to Edgewood's Town administrator Jeff Condrey, but the source of that money was unknown.
    All of those funds can still be vetoed by Gov. Bill Richardson.
    Dave Bliss, a local soccer coach who has been helping to plan the project for about two years, said Richardson has pledged matching funds for the project.
    "I don't think he'll line-item veto it," Bliss said at the Feb. 28 meeting of Edgewood's Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee.
    Bliss said he thinks he can ultimately get close to $1 million and hopes to obtain free or at-cost labor.
    Discussions of the project— spearheaded by a small group of concerned parents— have produced a wide range of price tags, from just more than $2 million to about $10 million. Not only that, but it has stirred up some controversy along the way, with Edgewood's lobbyist even publicly arguing against legislators funding it at one point.
    Bliss pointed out that playing fields have been part of the town's plans since the town was incorporated in 1999.
    "It will happen," Bliss said. "Maybe now we're getting to the point we can actually do it."
    The plans for the fields have them on the lower portion of Section 16, what is now raw land about a mile north of the freeway and west of N.M. 344.
    Bliss said he'd like to see access handled by a relatively inexpensive gravel road and parking lot to start with. The rest of the money would be spent on the playing fields.
    Although there have been some grand plans for the fields, the first construction may only include two to four fields that will be suitable for soccer or football, Bliss said.
    Baseball diamonds are very expensive, he explained, and might have to wait.
    Another much-debated item discussed at Edgewood's Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee meeting was Section 32, a 680-acre natural area in southern Edgewood leased to the town from the State Land Office since 2004.
    Nearly surrounded by developments, finding a legal access to the area has been a constant issue.
    Recently the Town Council decided not to purchase a nearly $50,000 lot near the northern edge of Section 32.
    The lot may have been planned as a way to gain access, but after criticism and at least one letter from an attorney, the purchase was abandoned.
    Parks and Recreation Director Roger Holden said there may be another viable, legal access to Section 32 from the west. That access would go through open space owned by the city of Albuquerque.
    He said he has yet to find out whether the road in is public or not.
    "It is a very viable option," Holden said, adding that he'd like to find yet another access. "We don't just want one way in to Section 32. Or at least, I don't."
    A public meeting to discuss these and other aspects of gaining access to Section 32 will be held in April, but the date has not been determined.
    Also discussed were volunteer opportunities for a number of different interests.
    Anyone interested in planning events, trails, planning recreational or athletic areas can contact Holden at 286-4518 or e-mail parksrec@edgewood-nm.gov.