by Jeremy Hunt
Daily Lobo
About 700 people rallied at the North Golf Course on Sunday to protest its possible development and petition for its preservation.
Sara Koplik, president of the North Campus Neighborhood Association, said residents became concerned after a story in the Albuquerque Journal stated the Board of Regents was interested in building a retirement community on the property.
"As we started to talk more about organizing, we found that there are other plans for building," she said. "There seems to be a lot of ideas going around to build on the golf course."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Koplik said the residents got serious after the regents issued a request for information Feb. 12, which is one step below a request for proposals. All of North Campus is being evaluated for its potential uses.
On the request, the golf course is labeled as a potential site for the development of retirement housing, offices, health care, parking structures and recreation. Developers will submit ideas for the property to the regents.
"That really got us very worried," she said. "We understand if the regents are looking into redoing the Real Estate Master Plan, and of course, the University has to prepare for the future."
In response to the request for information, the neighborhood association organized a walk around the course to raise support and collect signatures. The petition was signed by 695 people between noon and 3 p.m.
Koplik said the turnout was phenomenal.
"In this part of the city, this is a really big issue, and people are concerned and passionate about it," she said. "This golf course is beloved. It's the largest green space of the city. There's nothing else like it."
Jamie Koch, president of the regents, said there are no plans to develop the golf course. Koch said he doesn't know why the community members are getting agitated.
"For some reason, this thing is taken off as if, at any moment, we're going to close or do something with the golf course, but we're not," he said. "It's just gotten a life of its own."
Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, a UNM alumna, spoke at the rally.
Denish, who has lived on the north side of the golf course for 22 years, said she will do everything she can to protect it, including working with Gov. Bill Richardson.
"We love this golf course as so many of you have over the years," she said. "We don't even golf."
The New Mexico House of Representatives unanimously passed Memorial 23 on Wednesday, which calls for the preservation of the golf course.
Harold Morgan, former president of the neighborhood association, said the University has always toyed with the idea of developing the land.
Morgan said the walk around the course shows that residents won't let the golf course go without a fight.
"This is a very '60s thing. The people created the broader use (of the golf course)," he said. "I don't believe there was ever an organization that said, 'Let's create walking around the golf course.' It's the people voting with their feet."
Mel Eaves, chairman of the board's Finances and Facilities Committee, said the residents don't have anything to worry about. The regents are only getting useful data about University property, he said.
"The University is, at this time, using that RFI to try and gather
information that could be used in the future as a part of the University planning," he said. "Good management dictates that you try to get in place a reasonable master plan to look into the future and decide what the needs of the University are going to be."
Student Erik Zakrzewski, who attended the rally, said it's his favorite place to golf.
"It's the only golf course in the city that's cheap enough for students," he said. "I don't have $30 to go play golf."
Zakrzewski said Albuquerque needs the space for recreation.
"It's pleasing to the eye," he said. "Nobody wants to go walking on concrete with broken glass."
The course, built under the New Deal in the 1930s, has more significance than being just a great place to enjoy open space, Zakrzewski said.
"This has a lot of history to it," he said. "I just hope all those people get heard."
