ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Plans for the New Mexico United stadium at Balloon Fiesta Park has moved forward.

On Friday, the City of Albuquerque’s land use hearing officer reviewed the case for a second time in five months. 

“Clear evidence in record that design of the stadium has been undertaken with a specific goal of reducing sound,” said Lawrence Wells, a real estate agent representing New Mexico United & the City of Albuquerque. 

Representatives with New Mexico United are fighting an appeal from concerned residents over their plans to build a new soccer stadium at Balloon Fiesta Park. 

“We are the center of the activity, but we are being ignored by those who are designing it,” said Charles Bates, a concerned resident. 

This hearing, on the heels of a ruling back in April from the city’s Environmental Planning Commission, is giving them the green light to start construction. 

One of the biggest concerns at Friday morning’s hearing was noise and how it would be regulated if the stadium was built at Balloon Fiesta Park. 

“There apparently is a cadre of people that come to these games, and their whole thing is to amp up the crowed and make a whole bunch of noise. That is not referenced at all in the Anthony James Study,” said Michael Headerle, vice president of the North Edith Corridor Association. 

“The partial roof structure is designed to keep the sound in the stadium, the New Mexico United people want to keep the sound in the stadium because they want to generate the excitement and have it reflected back in the stadium,” said Wells.  

Quickly followed by traffic concerns, one resident brought up a traffic study that says 3,000 more cars could be in the area during game days. 

“That traffic starts about a half hour before the event and 15 minutes after the start of the event. We are looking at pushing another thousand cars down San Mateo in a 45-minute period,” said Bates. 

“The EPC had the traffic study from Lee Engineering that the park and the roadways can handle this, and that’s sort of intuitive because we all know what kind of burden is placed on the roads during the Balloon Fiesta,” Wells said.  

Land Use Hearing Officer Steven Chavez heard both sides and facilitated cross examinations before wrapping up the hearing. 

“What I will do is I will look at these issues very carefully, and I will draft a recommendation to city council within 15 days,” said Chavez. 

Another thing that was brought up several times by those opposing the stadium was a Good Neighbor Agreement, and coming up with ways to make sure it is enforced when it comes to noise. 

We’ll have to wait and see how things unfold in the next couple of weeks.