News

Lansford holds oil impact meeting

Scott Wagar

03/06/2012

“There isn’t a lot you can do to stop the oil industry from coming into your area. But, it isn’t all that bad either because the oil industry can bring in new revenue, new jobs, and it can bring the youth of our state back to North Dakota.”

These are the words of Mountrail County Commissioner Greg Boschee of Parshall who spoke to over 200 city and county leaders in Lansford on Feb. 29 during a community forum titled, “Taking charge of your community’s future” for those cities and counties which are currently starting to see an increase in activity from the oil industry.

A number of officials from Mountrail and McKenzie counties spoke at the community forum, which included McKenzie County JDA Gene Veeder of Stanley who presented, “Oil Boom #3 – 10 Things We Wish We Knew (Or remembered).”  

Veeder listed 10 tips to prepare a county and its cities for an impending oil boom, which included the following:

1. Stop selling city owned lots:

  • It is a pain to mow them but it is very expensive to develop new lots.
  • Value your sewer, water, curb, gutter and street investment.
  • New lots cost $40,000 to $70,000 per lot depending on land purchase price.

2. Purchase adjoining land for future housing and industrial development:

  • Before development starts, adjoining land should be worth slightly more than agricultural use prices.
  • Watford City and Williston are seeing adjoining land selling at prices from $50,000 to $300,000 per acre.
  • Three years ago adjoining land jumped from $200 per acre to $5,000 per acre and people couldn’t believe someone would pay that.


3. Have a plan for growth:

  • What excess infrastructure do you have?
  • Where should single family housing go?
  •  Where should apartments go?
  • Where should trailer parks go?
  •  Where should retail go?
  •  Where should industrial go?
  •  Have a plan for affordable housing for non-emergency workers. This becomes a huge problem with no one looking at this segment. LSS housing has this as a mission. Keep them in mind. Also, utilize local housing authorities and their bonding ability.


4. Plan for new infrastructure:

  •  Plan new water, sewer, street projects based on ease of expansion.
  •  Have a land use plan for adjoining areas based on what you want to go where.
  •  Put extraterritorial zoning in place to support the land use plan for adjoining county land as your town grows.
  •  Bring the adjoining landowners to the table. Even the most agricultural minded may succumb to $5,000 plus per acre prices.


5. Be careful of temporary housing:

  •  It seems like the only way workers flock in and the housing stock quickly fills up.
  • Know where to put it:

 Do not allow it in areas that permanent development could likely occur. Have your zoning tightened up to address it.

  •  Know how much you can handle:

Be aware of the affect on city and county services if you bring in a large temporary workforce that is not paying taxes.
Be aware of the affect on city retail service from a large influx of temporary workers.

  • It seems great at first to have people want to live in your town. Keep services and the future in mind.
  •  It is a quick payback for investors so the temptation is too strong for them to choose permanent projects over temporary. Don’t make it too easy to choose temporary over permanent housing.

 
6. Permanent development is the       only way:

  •  Retail won’t expand for trailer houses or mancamps. But with more people a bottle occurs.
  •  Schools won’t expand for trailer houses or mancamps. With more population the school population swells.
  •  City and county services are forced to expand with increase in population.
  •  All of the above can and will grow with the community if apartments, houses and new business development occurs.


7. Beef up the planning staff:

  •  City planner and building inspector lead the way to monitor the growth.
  •  Sleepy little towns don’t usually have to worry about hordes of out of state contractors invading your town.
  •  The local carpenter can usually build a good quality house or pole barn, but you don’t know if the new strangers can build anything right way.


8. Be ready to hire cops:

  •  Watford City and McKenzie County have tripled their ranks.
  •  Housing for new hires becomes impossible to find, so acquire housing before it is too expensive to acquire.
  •  New issues to you community will arise:

(A lot) more drugs
Prostitution
Domestic abuse in the temporary housing
Bar fights escalate

9. Don’t leverage your financial future:

  •  Avoid as much as possible financing the new city infrastructure with special assessments, especially if you are building it before they come. Ask Williston, Dickinson and Belfield.
  •  Apply to Energy Infrastructure Impact Office with a well design plan. Lobby hard.
  •  Require developers to build the infrastructure and put it in their lot prices.
  • Be patient. The first ones will believe they need your grants and special and handouts to make the projects cash flow. If they do, wait a year.

 
10. Make your town appealing:

  •  Watford City did know this one. It is very important so that someone would want to build a home or business in your town.
  •  Keep your parks up.
  •  Boost and encourage Main street businesses.

Renaissance zone and grant fund

  • Family friendly community facilities

Wellness centers
Hockey/rodeo facilities
Swim parks
Gold courses
Walking paths

When it comes to temporary housing, Veeder pointed out that temporary workers seldom decide to stay in the town they work in, and normally, they leave as soon as the job is done. He added that only 20 to 30 percent of the workers that come into communities will stay in them permanently. So, city and county planners and developers should build for these individuals. Veeder used the construction of a gas plant in McKenzie County as an example.

“Workers don’t wake up one morning in Texas and decide they want to move and live in North Dakota,” Veeder said. “When a gas plant was built in our county it brought in 2,500 construction workers to build the plant, where 60 employees stayed while the remainder went back to their hometowns.”

Veeder added that it is important to make your town appealing because if workers come in and see what they like, there is a better chance that they will make the decision to make that community their permanent home. He also stated that by making a community appealing, it will bring in new businesses (downtown and on the outskirts of towns), new jobs, increase school enrollment, and bring the young people of North Dakota back to their hometowns.

“I have two children who left,” Veeder said. “When the oil industry came in, my children came back and they both received good paying jobs in the industry.”
Boschee stated that the best thing a city or county can do is focus on zoning and development. “Get your zoning and development in order,” Boschee said.
Diane Olson, director of Bottineau County EDC office, stated that for the past year, the EDC board has been working in the area of zoning and planning when it comes to the oil industry. In the February 2012 city council meeting, she spoke with the aldermen encouraging them to start committees in the same areas to advance Bottineau County for any future oil activity in the county.

At the present time, she is attempting to raise $86,000 for a comprehension plan for zoning and developing in the area.

Although it seems very overwhelming for the cities and counties that are preparing for increase oil activities, Veeder stated that these entities shouldn’t see as much activity as the Williston basin is seeing, which should make matters much easier for those who are about to experience the oil industry.

With the information granted at the Lansford oil impact meeting, cities and counties should have a much easier experience when the oil industry comes, unlike the Williston Basin which had to learn without any foresight when the oil industry showed up in their communities.