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Saturday, January 26, 2008

Green Means Golf— for Now

By Martin Salazar
Journal Staff Writer
    Neighborhood associations op-posed to a retirement community on UNM's North Golf Course won a victory Friday, with President David Schmidly saying any plans for commercial development are off the table.
    "There's nothing going to happen over there now in the immediate foreseeable future," Schmidly said. "I'm confident telling you that you're not going to wake up over there and see bulldozers and a sign that says future home of Lobo Village."
    But the neighbors' effort to legally prevent any future development of the golf course likely would be rejected by regents, Schmidly told them.
    A community advisory group appointed by Schmidly to help plan the future of the golf course property forwarded its plans this week.
    The recommendations include:
   

Asking UNM for deed restrictions that would prevent future regents from building on any part of the 72-acre course in perpetuity.
   

Asking for deed restrictions on another 23 acres next to the golf course that would ban commercial development. Academic facilities would be allowed. About eight of the 23 acres are controlled by the Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority.
   

Allowing the university to develop about four acres of the property, including land where a new Court of Appeals building may be built.
    The North Golf Course is bordered on three sides by the UNM Hospital, the law school and the Domenici Center.
    The university had proposed building a retirement community on part of the nine-hole course, but pulled back after a massive outcry. Opponents included state lawmakers, local officials and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, who lives nearby.
    Schmidly appointed the nine-member advisory board in November.
    "We seek to create a solution which is in the best interest of all the parties," said Sara Koplik, board chair and president of the North Campus Neighborhood Association. The group met with Schmidly on Friday.
    Schmidly told the board the regents were unlikely to sign off on the deed restrictions, partly because it would tie the hands of their successors.
    He also said the land the group is recommending for academic uses likely wouldn't be sufficient to handle the needs of future medical school and law school expansions or the proposed dental school.
    And he raised concerns about rumors that attempts were being made to get lawmakers to withhold funding from UNM until it agreed to the deed restrictions.
    Schmidly said he had hoped the group would draft a plan to redesign the golf course so it would maintain its configuration in a smaller space.
    The plan is tentatively slated to be presented to the full board of regents on Feb. 15.