RIO RANCHO, N.M. — Neighbors who live by the former Club Rio Rancho golf course say dust from the 250-acre stretch of land is constantly finding its way into their homes.

“I feel like when the golf course closed, it was kind of like getting a cut. And with what’s going on now it’s like rubbing salt in the wound,” said Jay Martins.

Martins built his house overlooking the golf course almost 20 years ago, but for a while now his view has been sand dunes. Now when there’s any type of wind, it turns into a dust storm.

Martins and several neighbors are frustrated after having to constantly clean the dust around their properties.

“They’re removing all the vegetation, that’s what holds the silt down the dirt down. And there’s no other mitigation to control it. It just blows into our yards,” he said.

Martins said all the ponds were also recently drained, and neighbors say that’s created even more dust and an even bigger headache.

Another neighbor, Pat Volza, showed our KOB 4 crew his swimming pool. The cover was layered with dust and the pool itself had a thick layer of dust collected at the bottom.

“You see how the grasses here, that’s what it looked like, the rest of the course. OK, because they didn’t come that close to the house but then you can see it here as well. That’s with weeds and things and now it’s turned into a dust bowl,” Volza said.

All the neighbors KOB 4 spoke to say they’ve reached out to the city and the developer to try and get some relief but have not heard back.

KOB 4 reached out to the City of Rio Rancho and the developer about their concerns. Developer Steve Chavez said they were forced to drain the ponds over concerns of West Nile and that the EPA ordered them to spread the sludge from the pond bottoms in a designated area.

Other than that, Chavez said workers have not moved any dirt because they are still waiting for final plans for the area to be approved by the city. Chavez said the approval could come in the coming weeks.

The City of Rio Rancho shared the following statement below:

“The City works closely with private property owners and land developers to follow Federal, State, and Local guidelines and regulations for dust mitigation. Given Rio Rancho’s location on the northwest mesa and extensive undeveloped land, wind-blown dust does occur despite mitigation efforts.”