NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Bernalillo County has agreed to provide an additional $70,000 to the University of New Mexico for continued maintenance and improvements to UNM North Golf Course. The county and university executed the initial agreement in 2012 and it runs through 2027.
The additional money come from the county’s land management fund and will be used for course open space and trail improvements. “The new funds provided will support the university’s efforts to continue to provide the highest standard of care to preserve this beloved green space and trail for future generations,” District 3 Commissioner Adriann Barboa said in a release.
Bernalillo County has provided $1.5 million for irrigation replacement, creating a landscape trail around the course and tending to forest canopy on the course.
That combined money from the state and Bernalillo County has helped improve and preserve the landscape.
In 2019 UNM and Bernalillo county’s open space division came up with big plans to revamp the so-called “barren fairways,” but, the county says it ran into some problems.
“We’d have to raise additional funding for that the university would have to be okay with you know including that in the license agreement,” said John Barney, planning manager for Bernalillo County.
They say the 2019 plans included a potential dog park and possibly a community garden. But Barney says they would need more money to make that happen, and he pointed out a lack of community interest.
“We didn’t hear much about it during the public meetings that we had. There were a few people that were still interested in it, it wasn’t something that wasn’t a priority anymore it seemed from what we heard in the community,” said Barney.
The county says while plans to develop the “barren fairways” are on hold, they will keep it an open space for possible development in the future.
“We saved the golf course, we helped create this open space as to what they wanted this trail and we delivered,” said Barney.
