Dave Heil, president of the Volcano Cliffs Property Owners Association, fought the original plan but feels like the city is listening now:
From the Albuquerque Journal: "Last time around property owners were not involved in the process," Heil said, "This time they've (city planners) been meeting with us (his organization) every two or three weeks for the past two months."
Here's a bit of history on the volcanoes from the City of Albuquerque's website:
"On the horizon of the West Mesa stand the remnants of five cinder cone volcanoes. Formed over 100,000 years ago, the volcanoes were the dynamic finale to a series of fissure eruptions that coated the surrounding landscape in a basalt caprock."
Comments
This is unsustainable
After so much of the West Side got foreclosed on, you would think the people of Albuquerque would have figured out that building hundreds of single-family houses without any significant employment centers in the middle of a desert several miles from the nearest water source is unsustainable. Apparently you would be wrong.
Of course the properties are undevelopable - they're in the middle of a desert! The city shouldn't compromise on conservation in order to prop up unsustainable businesses - but it looks like that's exactly what it's going to do.
It's something of a shame that the fight against Paseo del Norte was always portrayed as a religious issue, because the anti-development angle was more important. But back in 1999, nobody wanted to be anti-development. I guess they're still expecting the Housing Boom Fairy to come back and rescue them.