Bernalillo County seeks input on new West Gun Club neighborhood park

Bernalillo County is asking West Gun Club neighbors to help decide where a long-promised park should go and what it should include, a small but telling test of whether public money will finally close a long-standing gap in South Valley services. County Vice Chair Frank Baca hosted a community conversation at Polk Middle School on Wednesday, June 3, and urged residents to weigh in on the project that would serve families living nearest the site.

Baca said the West Gun Club neighborhoods currently have no public parks in the area. County materials said the meeting was intended to gather feedback from the people most likely to use the park, including where it should be placed and which features matter most. Parks and Recreation staff have already been working with Polk Middle School students, the ABC Community School Partnership and Albuquerque Public Schools’ STEAM program on preliminary concepts.

The park is backed by $1 million in capital outlay funding secured by state Sen. Michael Padilla during the most recent legislative session. County records also show an earlier capital request of $1.1 million for a West Gun Club neighborhood park, and describe the project as a three-phase effort to acquire land, then plan, design, construct, equip and furnish the site. Phase 1 calls for acquiring 2 to 3 acres of land for an estimated $200,000. The county estimates the full park will cost $2.2 million and expects to seek more capital outlay money in the 2027 legislative session to finish the job.

County leaders have said they want planning and design wrapped up by the end of the year, with initial construction beginning in early 2027. That timeline makes the June 3 meeting more than a listening session. For a neighborhood that has asked for a park through an earlier Parks, Recreation and Open Space master plan update, then followed up with comment sheets and emails, the county’s next moves will show whether this is a real attempt to correct an infrastructure gap or just a symbolic invitation to speak.

The broader South Valley context only sharpens that question. County planning documents describe the area’s roots in seven small village centers and haciendas surrounded by agricultural lands, marshes and low sand hills, and other planning materials say agricultural preservation is most appropriate in the unincorporated area between the Gun Club Lateral and Arenal Main Canal, Central Avenue, the Rio Grande River to Rio Bravo Boulevard, Second Street and Isleta Pueblo. A new park there would add a rare neighborhood amenity to a place where open space and rural character have long shaped county planning.