RIO RANCHO, N.M. — Rio Rancho City Council passed a continuance Thursday night, postponing a controversial proposal. The Chamisa Hills Master plan would convert the old golf course and country club in Rio Rancho into residences and shopping areas.

City councilors passed a continuance for both the Chamisa Hills Master Plan and its zoning ordinances to August 14. They asked developers and the city staff working on the project to create amendments to address different concerns like HOAs. The decision comes after a majority of residents in Thursday night’s council meeting were against the proposal.

Club Rio Rancho has sat vacant for almost a decade, after closing in 2016. The developers, Consensus Planning, introduced an updated proposal Thursday night for what they’d like to see happen to the more than 200 acre property. It includes four residential areas, including a 55+ community. The town center has plans for retail, restaurants, a gym, a plaza and residential space on the second floor.

There’s also designs for open spaces, but both neighbors and some city councilors are concerned with that idea because that space isn’t owned right now. Jim Strozier, the co-founder of Consensus Planning, said the property would be owned by the City of Rio Rancho or a non-profit. But councilors pointed out, that would mean the city could be responsible for maintaining the open space, which could get expensive.

“I’m not saying the plan should be completely scrapped, but I do think we need to dive into it a little deeper and make sure that we answer all of the questions,” District 3 City Councilor Bob Tyler said.

More than a dozen people brought their concerns to city council Thursday night, with a majority against the plan. But some resident said they weren’t entirely against it, but they wanted changes. A majority of concerns were about traffic congestion and safety.

“You don’t talk about the real issues that are there facing the people who are living there, with streets that are all torn apart right now, with no plan to repave them, yet you want to put in more concentrated traffic,” David Rossi said.

“I don’t think we need a traffic study to know it’s going to get bad, it’s going to get really bad.  There’s kids that play in this park, it’s going to turn into a highway, people are going to use it as the path of least resistance,” Mike Lindell said.

“I love my neighborhood, and I love living in Rio Rancho. This plan will change everything for myself, my family, and our whole entire community,” a community member said.

Strozier said he heard the concerns, but said a lot of them can’t be addressed yet.

“We heard about fire danger, we heard about the drainage, drainage ponds, all of those things have to be dealt with at the more micro level, at the project level, in order for anything to be built and approved. The master plan sets up a framework, I would say a maximum threshold of what that development could be,” Strozier said.

While there were many opinions Thursday night, everyone who spoke was in agreement with one thing: they want something to change so the old golf course can stop being an eyesore.