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A partnership between UNM and Bernalillo County will protect UNM’s North Golf Course as the only open green space in District 3, the county district that includes the University area and south east heights.
The partnership, which will protect the 76-acre golf course from development for the next 15 years, was unanimously approved by the Board of Regents and the Bernalillo County Commission at meetings held June 14. The partnership includes a $1.5 million investment, funded by the Bernalillo County’s Open Space Division, a division that aims to acquire and protect natural land.
Bernalillo County Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins said the $1.5 million investment will be used to upgrade the golf course’s irrigation system, replace aging trees with drought-resistant trees, and improve the pathways around the golf course. She said the new irrigation system could save up to 20 million gallons of water annually and that the new pathways will comply with NCAA requirements for UNM cross country events.
“I always believed that it was possible for Bernalillo County and UNM to work together as two public entities to leverage our respective resources to create a partnership that combines a win, win, win for all involved; the University neighborhood, UNM and Bernalillo County,” she said.
Hart Stebbins said the agreement will preserve open space in a highly urbanized area of Bernalillo County and that although Bernalillo County has about 1,000 acres of open space, none of the space is in District 3, the district which includes UNM’s North Golf Course.
“It is in fact the largest a best open green space that we have left,” she said. “It’s an urban oasis teaming with life from migrating birds to golfers to world-class athletes.”
Regent Don Chalmers said the agreement will be good for UNM and that the University will be able to save money on operating expenses during the next 15 years.
“We believe this is a good agreement for us,” he said. “It signals some very good cooperation between Bernalillo County commissioners and UNM, and we hope this will improve our relationship.”
For about 10 years, members of the North Campus Neighborhood Association have advocated that the golf course remain undeveloped. In 2007, former UNM President David Schmidly suggested replacing the golf course with a retirement community as a way to pay back bonds issued by UNM, but the golf course remained undeveloped.
UNM’s North and South Golf Courses cost about $2.4 million to operate and reported a loss of about $521,000 in 2011, according to UNM’s budget report.
In March, the Bernalillo County Commission unanimously voted to offer UNM money to not develop over the course.
UNM President Robert Frank said that he understands the value of the open space because he enjoyed visiting the area while he was a student at the University.
“I lived just a few blocks from here when I was a student…and I walked around this golf course very often and enjoyed all of the pleasures it has to offer all of the people in this neighborhood,” he said.
Frank said he hopes that the University will continue to work with the county to improve the University area and make Bernalillo County a better place for all.
“I hope that in 15 years when we come back here to do something that can go for 15 more years that we all say ‘great universities and great communities can come together to do more’ because that’s what we want to do more of here,” he said.
