Could the Balloon Museum get a playground? Here's what City Council just passed

The City Council approved a measure to help the Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum add a playground to its campus and request state funding.

The resolution, sponsored by Council President Brook Bassan adds the project to her district’s capital outlay requests — state funds to build projects — just a day after New Mexico’s 60-day legislative session began.

It passed on an 8-1 vote Wednesday night. Councilor Joaquín Baca was the lone vote against the resolution. Baca — a hydrologist —told the Journal following the vote he was against it because Bassan did not appoint him to the water quality board.

The City Council approved its legislative priorities, which included capital outlay requests, in December, but Bassan said the playground had to be added after the fact because she was approached about the project following the meeting to approve the list.

“I absolutely am a supporter of it. It’s a formality, in my opinion, of making sure that I get it added to my district for capital outlay priorities,” Bassan told the Journal on Wednesday.

Renderings shared with the Journal show plans for a balloon tower, a sky bridge, additional trees and a gas balloon capsule to name a few of the playground’s planned features.

The construction is expected to cost $5.5 million and the museum is asking the Legislature to cover $4 million.

“I definitely am optimistic we’ll secure at least some funding. … Whenever I go to the Legislature, I try to shoot for the moon and hope to land on a star,” Bassan said.

In addition to the funds they’ll ask the state for, the park has raised $1.25 million for the project so far.

“We see the Balloon Museum as a cultural touchpoint for city of Albuquerque residents, New Mexicans, but also the larger community of people visiting from across the country and around the world,” Museum Manager Nan Masland told the Journal on Tuesday. “We have incredible exhibits inside our museum, but by adding this playscape or outdoor balloon adventure, we are increasing our offerings to be more accessible to people of all ages.”

The museum — one of only two dedicated to hot air balloons in the country — opened in October 2005 and cost some $12 million to build, according to Journal archives.

“I see this project as a culmination of 20 years of dreaming big at the Balloon Museum, and we’ve been working on this project for over five years,” Masland said.

Bassan’s other capital outlay requests are improvements to Alameda and Vista del Norte parks and equipping an aquatics facility at North Domingo Baca Park.