APS moving forward on West Side stadium

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The Albuquerque Public School District is moving ahead with plans to build a new sports complex on the city's West Side.

However, it will not be located at the original proposed site along Paseo del Volcan north of Interstate 40.

"We're having issues at SunCal and securing the property at Volcan and the interstate," APS Chief Operations Officer Brad Winter said. "So, what we are doing is we're having to look other places."

Winter told the APS School Board Capitol Outlay Committee on Tuesday night that there are several other sites, but a piece of land already owned by the district near Atrisco Heritage Academy High on the Southwest Mesa appears to be at the top of the list.

"We need this stadium to be built quickly," West Side board member Robert Lucero said. "So, the bottom line is in the next two weeks, we'll have a decision on where we're going to build that stadium, and then we'll start construction fairly quick after that."

APS hopes to break ground later this month and have the sports complex built by the fall semester of 2011.

The Capitol Outlay Committee wants to vote on the site at its next meeting in two weeks.