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Land Rush: Booming business and housing developments make finding a spot for balloons to touch down a tough task

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Albuquerque real estate agent Jeff Gilles gazes down at a festering problem every time he flies his hot-air balloon.

Where to land?

With development exploding on the north side of town, the wide-open spaces necessary to land aircraft that don't have steering are rapidly giving way to houses, businesses and big-box stores.

Unless something is done to preserve balloon landing sites, "it's going to become a crisis," Gilles said, for private balloonists and those who participate in the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

That's if nothing is done.

The good news, says Paul Smith, the fiesta's executive director, is that with the right mix of land purchases, deals with parking lot owners and a few other tweaks, Albuquerque can keep balloonists happy for years to come by maintaining good landing sites.

His strategy:

Keep buying land to preserve open space. A proposal to buy the Vista del Norte property (where Wal-Mart also has proposed a store) is a quantum leap in the right direction, Smith said.

Monitor the number of balloons flying at one time during the fiesta, perhaps staggering launches. That would mean fewer balloons competing for the dwindling number of landing sites.

Work with businesses with large parking lots. Arrange deals where people park only in certain spaces at certain times during balloon fiesta mornings. Come up with ways to light those parking lots without having so many poles that make life difficult for balloonists.

Do all that, Smith said, and Albuquerque should be able to preserve a healthy balloon fiesta for the next generation.

In building that strategy, however, there's a critical question: Just where can balloons land?

"I don't know if there is an answer to that question," Smith said, because so many variables come into play.

Winds often blow out of the north, but not always, so just where the balloon flights will end up depends on the day's weather. To make things even more confusing, the wind at ground level is sometimes blowing in a different direction than a few hundred feet higher.

The stronger the wind, the more limited the landing spots because it takes a bigger landing zone.

Pilot skill is another factor, Smith said. Some balloonists can land on the equivalent of a dime. Some can't. All kinds come to the fiesta.

"There are no absolutes," Smith said.

Other balloons can also create competition for prime landing sites. Unlike helicopters or airplanes, balloons can't just hover or circle and wait for a landing zone to clear, Smith said.

While balloonists would always prefer to land in wide open areas, landing on developed parts of town is possible, especially if winds are under about 8 mph.

The Albuquerque Bernalillo County Water Utility Authority, for example, lays out the welcome mat.

"I think we'll always be happy to work with the balloonists," said John Stomp, the water resources manager for the authority, which controls a large chunk of land in one of the most common flight paths.

But where the land used to be vacant, it's now a sprawling complex of buildings and facilities that will treat river water as part of the new San Juan-Chama project, and that presents obstacles for balloonists. The authority also leases part of its property to Vulcan Materials, a construction supplier.

Stomp conceded that the authority's smattering of landing zones is "pretty tight," and will get tighter as more buildings sprout on its property.

School playgrounds are also an option, though balloonists are discouraged from landing during school hours, said Albuquerque Public Schools spokesman Rigo Chavez.

City parks are open as well, officials say.

If winds push balloons north toward Sandia Pueblo, the landing situation looks better.

"The balloonists are allowed to land on 98 percent of the reservation," said Amber Flores Jordan, the pueblo's spokeswoman.

Last year, Sandia established several no-land areas, promising a $500 fine to balloonists who didn't respect them. But in the end, the fine wasn't enforced on the two balloons that landed there, Flores Jordan said.

The big landowners' words of welcome don't surprise Ed Adams, the city's chief operations officer and the man who would supervise any land buys.

"Generally speaking, this is a very balloon-friendly community," he said.

Though their landing zones are tightening up, balloons aren't going away anytime soon, the fiesta's Smith said.

"We will work with whatever there is," he said, but added, "the more open space there is, the better."