For those who have been following my recent posts about Albuquerque's Mesa del Sol development and the landfill issue (http://activerain.com/blogsview/641852/Green-Community-Location-Landfill and http://activerain.com/blogsview/644815/Green-Community-or-Toxic ), I've got some good news!

Anne Monson, the director of Public Relations and Marketing for Mesa del Sol, apparently saw the blog, and took the time to contact me and provide some additional information about the issue. (By the way, three cheers here for ActiveRain, for being prominent enough that the folks at Mesa del Sol immediately noticed these blogs and responded to the issue!)

For those who missed the previous blogs, I had done some research, obtained maps of both Mesa Del Sol's development plan and the locations of several landfill, resized so that all were the same size, and overlaid the landfill maps on the Mesa Del Sol maps. Here's the latest of the results for reference:

This method is necessarily inexact, so I was very happy to receive more specific information from Ms. Monson.

Below are the details that Ms. Monson provided in her personal email to me.

"In the past, there were two landfills on the property that is now known
as Mesa del Sol.  The City of Albuquerque leased the land from the State
Land Office and operated a landfill called the South Broadway Landfill.
Bernalillo County also leased land from the State Land Office to operate
its own landfill, which was commonly referred to as the County Landfill.
Both landfills collected municipal waste from city and county residents.
They were closed in 1990.



In regards to Mesa del Sol, there are no plans to construct homes,
offices or buildings on any land that was formerly a landfill site.  The
city's former landfill site has been designated as open space in the
Mesa del Sol master plan. This site is below the escarpment.  The City's
Health Department has guidelines that specify a 1,000-foot buffer must
be left around any former landfills. The other former landfill site is
within the Bernalillo County Recreation Complex and is not part of the
Mesa del Sol development.  Restrictions on this former landfill only
allow limited uses such as a playing field or parking lot.



The City of Albuquerque's Environmental Health Department monitors the
former landfill.  Under city guidelines, there is ongoing health and
safety monitoring and regular status reports are submitted to the city
administration outlining findings.  It is interesting to note that
within Albuquerque, there are several former landfill sites that have
found new life. These former sites include the Albuquerque International
Balloon Fiesta Park, the Sandia Science & Technology Park and the
Alameda Business Park, to name a few. "

So it appears that the Mesa Del Sol developers have seen to it that neither residences nor businesses will be built directly on top of former landfills, and that the 1000-foot buffer will be maintained between the former landfills and any structures.

There also seems to be provision for ongoing "monitoring." This all sounds good. Is it enough?

I don't know. Do you? I'd say this is something that probably should be disclosed so that prospective purchasers and commercial investors can decide for themselves whether they consider these precautions adequate. This seems particularly important since Mesa del Sol has been stressing the "green" nature of the proposed homes and other buildings. Those who are attracted to the green nature of the plans would likely be folks who would also be most concerned about the landfill issue. So I'd think the mantra "disclose, disclose, disclose" would apply here for sure.

Ms. Monson did not address the proximity of the Sandia Laboratories Mixed Waste Landfill in her email. I've requested any info she might have on this as well, although, it's clear that the MWL does not lie within Mesa Del Sol boundaries, but rather some distance to the east.

I'll be posting any additional info that I receive....