ALBUQUERQUE, NM – There are no seats on the Albuquerque City Council up for election this year, but that doesn’t mean our city leaders won’t be busy Monday night.

Their meeting is just beginning and the council will have to decide the fate of a new Dunkin’ Donuts in one of Albuquerque’s oldest neighborhoods.

Barelas neighborhood leaders say they appreciate the coffee and donuts, but they’re not thrilled about the traffic that comes with it and how developers plan to manage all those extra cars.

Albuquerque city planners have already approved a zoning change and a proposal to build a new Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru at the intersection of César Chávez Avenue and Third Street.

The intersection is right at the base of the bridge that goes over the train tracks. This stretch of road is already prone to accidents and other traffic incidents.

According to city documents, it appears the developers want all Dunkin’ traffic to enter on Cesar Chavez eastbound and exit at the Third Street curve right at the light. That’s where neighborhood leaders are putting their foot down.

“There will be a lot of people aggressively crossing multiple lanes just before the intersection, or there will be people going through a really tight curve, like a 90-degree curve, when turning to go to other places. Now, people cut, exit, cross, move traffic to get to the other side. And so, unfortunately, their current plan for how to handle that is, ‘Good luck,’” said Barelas Neighborhood Association board member Sean Potter.

According to city documents, developers plan to add stop signs. But community leaders say that’s not enough and believe their concerns are falling on deaf ears.

“I just feel like they should have had an updated traffic study. Since we live in the neighborhood, we drive those streets every day and see what happens firsthand. So yes, it is not going to be safe at all,” said Joann García, president of the Barelas Neighborhood Association.

Neighborhood leaders are not opposed to the project, they just want developers and city leaders to take their concerns seriously.

Albuquerque city councilors are expected to decide whether or not to accept the neighborhood association’s appeal, which will allow the project to move forward as is or force it to return to the planning process.