The City of Albuquerque announced late last year the approval of a new home for New Mexico United, but since then a group of neighbors have started a formal appeal of that decision. That appeal is still in the beginning stages and awaiting a hearing through the Planning Department. Brooke Jordy, one of those neighbors and a criminal defense attorney, says several dozen residents who live near the proposed area, along with a handful of neighborhood associations, filed the appeal out of concern for unintended consequences such as noise, water and ground pollution. The Paper., in collaboration with New Mexico PBS, recently spoke with Jordy about the decision to challenge the plan to build a soccer stadium on the grounds of the Balloon Fiesta Park.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. The entire interview can be found at youtube.com/@nminfocus.
The Paper.: Can you just spend just a brief moment talking about what area of Albuquerque we’re talking about? I think maybe a lot of people only go there for the Balloon Fiesta. Geographically, what are we talking about and who lives there?
Balloon Fiesta Park is in that North Valley, Alameda and Edith area, which is where I live. There are several neighborhood associations surrounding that area. There’s the Maria Diers Neighborhood Association, there’s the North Edith Corridor Association, there’s the Alameda North Valley Association, and then the Wildflower Neighborhood Association. So within that area, there are lots of people who have multi-generational homes who inherited their property from grandparents who’ve been there for decades. There are many people who have wild or domesticated animals such as livestock. They have sheep, goats, cows, horses, all just within my neighborhood. And so most people up there either have some sort of agricultural interest or enjoy the more agricultural, more rustic feel of that neighborhood.
What were some of the concerns, both in the process of how this happened and what are the concerns of what might happen if the stadium is built?
In terms of the [Albuquerque Environmental Planning Commission’s] decision, New Mexico United and the City of Albuquerque have failed to do a comprehensive environmental impact study to see how building a stadium in that area would affect air, water, noise qualities. It is right off of the [Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority]
channel, which is that north diversion ditch that people know about. That carries all of Albuquerque’s runoff stormwater and takes it into the Rio Grande. So any kind of fallout, or water pollution that would come from increased use of Balloon Fiesta Park, such as increased fireworks from the stadium, would pollute that water with all of that fallout that comes from fireworks. It’s also a very quiet area. Like I mentioned, there’s a lot of wildlife, we’re not too far from the Bosque. So there are protected waterways that are in play here. A big one is that the city and New Mexico United have presented themselves as partners in building the stadium and getting the plans in place. Those plans are extremely lacking in detail. On top of that, the City Council is supposed to have a quasi-judicial decision-making role in this process, and they have represented themselves as being an agent, a partner of New Mexico United. And so Consensus Planning, who has the planning contract for the stadium, has said that they are an agent for the City of Albuquerque and New Mexico United. To fill that quasi-judicial decision-making role, you have to be neutral. So, how can the city be neutral in deciding for themselves whether those plans are acceptable?
We’ve sort of been down this road before. Specifically with Downtown Albuquerque, there was sort of a push to build a stadium there. Residents of Downtown said, “No way.” I realize this is far from your job or anybody else in your neighborhood’s job. Do you see an area in Albuquerque that might work outside of your area?
I have heard that some people would be interested in it being built kind of around the South [University of New Mexico] area. There have been some redevelopment projects going on there that would be a better fit. I’m not personally aware of other places within the city. One of the issues might just be that we don’t need a stadium within the city. I think one of the big concerns of the neighbors is that the city and New Mexico United feel like they’re under the gun, to some degree, to get this pushed through, and in doing so, have been sloppy, to say the least, in how these plans have unfolded. In pushing all of that through, what they’re asking the residents of Albuquerque to do is give up some concerns of that environmental impact and give up some concerns of how our state funds are being used. So, if they had taken the time to really put this in place, then we wouldn’t be in this situation.
Again, not your job to figure this out, and I know you’re only speaking on behalf of yourself and not the neighborhoods. Is there any way that United and the city can sort of rectify the situation and build a stadium? What could be done to sort of mitigate the damage that’s been done, if anything?
I think a good start would be, like I said, the environmental impact studies, figuring out how this stadium will truly impact current residents of all of Bernalillo County really. I recognize that Mayor [Tim] Keller believes that we aren’t his constituents and so our opinion on the stadium being built is of less concern than his constituents. However, the air pollution and water pollution: That carries much greater concern for all of New Mexico really. If it’s going into the Rio Grande, then that’s going to affect, downstream, literally the rest of New Mexico. We should know by now that you can’t unring the bell when it comes to environmental pollution. It’s 2024, we’ve seen this time and time again. If you push things through and say, “Well, it’s economic development, oh, it’s good for businesses,” what’s good for businesses isn’t necessarily good for a community and isn’t necessarily good for the environment. On top of that, I think engaging with individuals who live in my area where, yes, I recognize we’re not Mayor Keller’s constituents, but we have a vested interest in protecting the way that land is used in our neighborhood and the majority of people who are for the stadium don’t actually live in the vicinity of the stadium, and will be somewhat protected from any of the fallout of the stadium. I will also say that the city’s proposal involves building a stadium next to the old Nazareth Landfill, which has unusually high levels of landfill gasses, because the city never built the proper venting system that they were supposed to. So, we have very high levels of methane gas that could be released and it’s currently unsafe, as it exists today for just the Balloon Fiesta usage. So, building a stadium next to a landfill gas-concentration area is dangerous for individuals going to the stadium, building the stadium and living near the stadium. One of our big problems, the neighbors’ big problems with the stadium’s plan, is that it doesn’t account for any of that. The issue has been raised with the city and it has fallen on deaf ears, nothing has been done. There has been what appears to be no good-faith attempt to rectify the concerns that neighbors have voiced in public comment, and I think that that says all it needs to.
This is $$ left over after Ke;;er hired tons of new policemen??