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Adventure Gallup and Beyond presents an update for the north side Outdoor Recreation project to the city council

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The north side of Gallup may soon be seeing more outdoor activity and tourism.

During the Sept. 14 city council meeting, members of Adventure Gallup and Beyond presented an update for their outdoor recreation project that would be on the north side of Gallup.

The project would cover the land east of the Gallup Flea Market and west of the Gallup Off-Highway Vehicle Park. The northern border includes Navajo Nation land, and the southern boundary runs along Maloney Avenue.

President of AGB Brian Leddy said that this would be a legacy project and could potentially improve the quality of life in Gallup.

“Gallup needs to find ways to attract [and] entertain people who will contribute to our community,” Leddy said. “Having a close-by place to hike, bike, go out and picnic, and just enjoy the great outdoors is a tremendous asset for professionals who value exercise, getting outdoors, and enjoying the Southwest.”

“I like what all you have developed here,” Dist. 4 Councilor Fran Palochak said. “But it always comes down to money, and right now we have some large ticket items we’re trying to do within the city, like build a police building [and] we’re trying to upgrade our wastewater treatment center.”

Leddy told the Sun that the board doesn’t know the total project price at this time. Gallup Land Partners currently owns the property. Leddy said they would be the ones who would need to get an appraisal conducted.

AGB is currently working with the Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments to determine which grants they can apply for and what type of public and private funding will be available to them.

The project is on the Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan list, a five-year plan the city created to define development needs and identify funding sources.

During the city council meeting, Gallup’s Planning and Development Director Clyde Strain reminded the council of its top five priorities and asked councilors if they wanted to change them.

The top five priorities before the meeting were: Gallup Water Wells, Public Safety Building Construction, East Nizhoni Boulevard Reconstruction, New Regional Senior Citizens Center, and the New Regional Library Construction.

Strain reminded the council that the priorities had not been set in stone. He said the design portion of the public safety building project is complete and funding must still be collected. The East Nizhoni Boulevard reconstruction project has received funding for Phase One.

Strain reassured the council that the city staff went through the list to prioritize these projects thoroughly.

“We were able to remove a lot of items that were completed, so we’re pretty proud of ourselves for getting that done,” Strain commented. “There are items on this list that have been there a long time, and we managed to get a lot of infrastructure projects, utility projects, [and] things like that removed off the list.”

The council decided to approve the staff’s priority list. The North Side Outdoor Recreation Development project is still on the ICIP list.

Leddy informed the council that the AGB would soon take their plan to the county commission. More information will be available once the land appraisal is complete.

By Molly Ann Howell
Sun Correspondent

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