Rio Rancho staff outline playground replacements, parking-lot redesigns and Bosque fuel‑reduction work

City parks and recreation staff updated the commission on a string of capital and maintenance projects across Rio Rancho, including playground replacements, parking‑lot redesigns, grant applications for new recreation facilities and an ongoing Bosque fuel‑reduction effort.

Projects division manager Diane Sonnier said contractors have started demolishing the existing playground at Vista Sandia Park and will replace the 2–5 and 5–12 play structures, remove the old wood chips, install poured‑in‑place accessible surfacing on part of the site, add a concrete pad and a 10‑by‑30 shade structure. "If you were to go by our Vista Sandia Park, you would see the contractors started to demolish the existing playground," Sonnier said. She said the Vista Sandia work—one of the 2024 general obligation bond projects—aims for completion by or before March 2026.

Sonnier said the department is designing two parking‑lot replacement projects: the Haines pool and recreation center lot (with construction hoped to start this winter or very early next calendar year so work finishes before the 2026 pool season) and a large King Park parking‑lot redesign that would separate and convert integrated asphalt basketball courts into dedicated concrete courts to improve safety and delineation.

Campus Park is nearing closeout after final warranty repairs and late design changes, Sonnier said, and Broadmoor Senior Center’s terrace and multipurpose room remain under construction with substantial completion targeted by or before January 2026. She also described CDBG and other grant‑funded items: a shade structure at Broadmoor and a 30‑by‑30 metal shade structure for Star Heights Park adjacent to renovated courts; materials, she said, should arrive to the contractor yard soon.

The department has applied for state grant funds to design a regional pickleball complex at Sierra Norte Park (six to eight courts with dedicated parking). Sonnier said the city could phase construction if only design money is awarded and expected to hear about that grant application "within the next two weeks." She also said the city applied for design funding for phase 1 of a Rio Rancho Multigeneration Center and is prepared to procure final plan review and code‑compliance work for phase 3 of Sports Complex North so construction could proceed quickly if legislative funds become available.

On neighborhood infrastructure, Sonnier said the city submitted a design application to improve the Enchanted Hills neighborhood trail and hopes to learn the outcome in the coming weeks. She cautioned that HUD CDBG program changes at the federal level create uncertainty about next‑year allocations but said the department would apply for park and playground work if the program continues.

Sonnier described fuel‑reduction work in the Rio Rancho Bosque at the Willow Creek area: contract crews removed downed deadwood and city wildland fire staff felled hazard trees and staged cut material at the Willow Creek parking lot for removal. "We are utilizing goats to remove what's called the duff or understory," Sonnier said, adding the goats should return about a week after Thanksgiving to finish the understory clearing. She said the work in a die‑off area of under 2 acres will continue using FY26 funds.

The director’s office said staff will share procurement notices and additional timing as projects progress; several items depend on the outcome of pending grant applications or legislative funding.