Albuquerque City Council Meeting - October 16, 2023: Stadium Lease, Appeals, and Policy Decisions
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Albuquerque City Council Meeting - October 16, 2023
The City Council held its 39th meeting of the 25th Council on Monday, October 16, 2023, at 5:00 PM in the Vincent E. Griego Chambers. The meeting included proclamations, an administration Q&A, public comments, and actions on several items, including a contentious lease agreement for a New Mexico United stadium, a cannabis retail appeal, and resolutions on opioid settlement funds and affordable housing. The meeting was extended past 11:00 PM to address the agenda.
Consent Calendar
- EC-23-361: Approved sole source purchase of heavy-duty bed bug resistant beds for the Westside Emergency Housing Center (unanimous, 9-0).
- EC-23-362: Approved Mayor's recommendation of award to Clean Harbors for Household Hazardous Waste Collection Program (unanimous, 9-0).
- EC-23-364 through EC-23-373: Confirmed Mayoral appointments to various commissions and boards (all unanimous, 9-0).
- EC-23-374: Withdrawn by Administration (unanimous, 9-0).
- OC-23-41: Receipt of Office of Internal Audit's Annual Report for FY 2023 noted (unanimous, 9-0).
- OC-23-42: Confirmed Ms. Diane Souder to the Open Space Advisory Board (unanimous, 9-0).
Public Comments & Testimony
Numerous members of the public spoke on a variety of topics:
- Fentanyl Awareness: Commissioner Adrienne Barboa and others shared personal stories of loss to fentanyl, urging support for harm reduction and treatment services. Jennifer Burke from Serenity Mesa highlighted the need for prevention and education.
- Domestic Violence: Teresa Garcia, chair of the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Commission, spoke about the importance of supporting survivors and the need for a coordinated community response.
- Albuquerque Community Safety (ACS): Several ACS responders and union representatives expressed concerns about morale, staffing shortages (18 responders lost since start), and the need for better case management and data tracking. They emphasized the department's mission to provide holistic, empathetic response to behavioral health calls.
- Transit: Director Keener reported on service reductions effective October 14 due to driver and mechanic shortages, noting 20 new MCOs and 20 new Sunvan chauffeurs in the hiring pipeline.
- New Mexico United Stadium Lease: A large number of speakers supported the lease agreement, citing community benefits, economic impact, and the team's positive influence on youth. Opponents raised concerns about parking, neighborhood notification, potential anti-donation clause violations, and the financial terms of the lease.
- Air Quality Board (O-2388 and R-176): Multiple speakers opposed the proposed ordinance and resolution, arguing they would undermine the board's independence and ability to address cumulative impacts. Some industry representatives supported the changes, saying they would provide clearer guidelines and accountability.
Discussion Items
- Administration Q&A: Councilors questioned ACS Deputy Director Jasmine Desiderio and other staff about response times, data tracking, safety protocols, and staffing. The average time to close a 311 case was 42 hours. Councilor Sanchez raised concerns about responder safety and the need for access to police CAD data. Transit Director Keener reported on hiring and service reductions.
- EC-23-375 – Lease Agreement with New Mexico United: The council debated a 30-year lease for a privately financed stadium on seven acres at Balloon Fiesta Park. Key terms included $35,000 annual rent plus 10% of parking revenue, $30 million minimum private investment, and $13.5 million in state infrastructure funds for the park. Following a motion for a 90-day deferral (passed 5-4), a motion to reconsider passed (5-4), then a 30-day deferral was approved unanimously (9-0). The lease will return on November 20, 2023.
- AC-23-13 – Cannabis Retail Appeal: The council accepted the Land Use Hearing Officer's recommendation to uphold the Zoning Hearing Examiner's approval of a conditional use permit for a cannabis retail at 5704 Lomas Blvd NE, despite being within 600 feet of an existing establishment. The motion carried 7-0 (with one excused, one recused).
Key Outcomes
- R-23-151 (CIP Amendment): Passed as amended (8-0, one excused). The amendment redirected $1.085 million from a completed splash pad to the North Domingo Baca Park Aquatic Center.
- R-23-174 (Opioid Settlement Policy): Passed 7-1 (one excused, Councilor Peña opposed). The resolution establishes a policy for expenditure of opioid settlement monies, requiring a community-wide plan with the county and reports every two months. Councilor Peña expressed concern about delays in getting funds to providers.
- R-23-175 (Central Avenue Route 66 Maintenance): Passed as amended (8-0, one excused). The amendment encourages Bernalillo County to maintain sections of Route 66 outside city limits. The resolution directs the city to maintain landscaping, streetscaping, signage, and transit facilities along Central Avenue.
- R-23-177 (Affordable Housing Funding Oversight): Deferred to November 20, 2023, for further discussion between the council and the administration. Councilor Benton sought to ensure council oversight of affordable housing fund expenditures.
- EC-23-375 (Stadium Lease): Deferred 30 days to November 20, 2023, after a series of votes. The council will continue to review the lease terms and neighborhood concerns.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, folks, welcome to the 39th meeting of the 25th City Council. We'll call this meeting to order. We're sort of doing a hybrid tonight. Councillor Benton is taking care of the whole West Wing over there by himself. In a different way this evening, Counselor Lewis will be with us shortly. Counselors Jones and Pena are joining us by Zoom this evening, and so you'll see them participating on the TV for those folks here with us. And then we'll be all set. But that means we'll have roll call votes tonight so that we can make a record for the uh counselors that are attending. That extends us just a little bit. Um but before we do much else, I will ask our vice president to get us started with our pledge. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. Will you all join me with the Pledge of Allegiance? I'm going to ask uh Counselor Bassan to lead us in English and then Councillor Sanchez in Spanish, and we'll have a real quick moment of silence. Thank you for standing. Thank you. Nicely done. Thank you, folks. Uh, we have a few housekeeping matters tonight. I see some unfamiliar or uh not as familiar faces, and so I'm gonna go through our rules of the evening. Um here's what I think we're gonna do for folks that picked up our agenda. Sometimes we bounce around to try to help people out for folks that are gonna be here for a particular topic and be sure we can give them time because sometimes these meetings run till midnight, uh, and folks with kids or jobs or a real life besides us often don't like to stay here that long. Here's what I think we'll do if everybody will cooperate with us this evening. We've got a bunch of things to take care of, but I think what we'll do is once we get through our first procedural motions. If the rest of the counselors are okay with it, we're gonna go straight to public comment and then we're gonna move into the approvals of the evening, which is the lease with the United States, the only item on that agenda. My goal is that we would get through with all that before the council takes a lunch or dinner break between 7:30 and 8 o'clock. So if for those folks that are signed up or here for those, we're gonna do our best to try to keep that moving forward. You have up we'll talk about it when we get to public comment. You have all the time uh that's allotted to you. Um but if you'll help us keep that moving forward, we'll try to get you out uh and you won't have to wait for us for an extra hour but to come back and finish that. Um so we're gonna try to do that for the folks that are here tonight so you guys can go home, take care of kids, school, work, and all those other things and get ready for postseason. Um, and so we'll see what we can do to get that done. Uh but here's a few do's and don'ts for folks that haven't been with us before. Uh Civic Plaza parking passes are provided for members of the public. You can obtain those passes from our staff out in the lobby uh at the table near the chamber's entrance. You'll need that to get out of the building later tonight, so be sure you get those. Members of the public, the staff, and the media have the ability to view all of our meetings in person and on live stream on Gov TV and our website and channel 16, uh, YouTube and other platforms. Those live streams can always be available and accessed at home for folks who are following along. Um if you need assistance with those at any time, you can always come see our staff or we have archived recordings available on the website if you missed something and want to see what happened. Uh please contact our staff at 768-3100 if you need that. As I mentioned, we generally try to take a break about seven. We're gonna extend that from 7:30 or 8 uh until everybody gets angry, and then we have to go upstairs and do that. Um so we'll ask you to help us with those. We'll talk about that when we get there. Tonight uh we have a number of rules for public comment. Those have been posted outside for those of you who came in this evening. Um, if we have a disruption, we'll stop the meeting. We'll go through those rules, remind you, give you a warning. If anyone has uh a second or further violation, we can ask you to leave the meeting.
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