News

City council discusses NAWS and rezonings

By Scott Wagar

04/10/2012

The NAWS project was discussed at the city council meeting on Monday evening, which for the first time in over a decade the community of Bottineau received some positive news about the water project.

Mayor Doug Marsden and City Superintendent Keith Fulsebakke, attended the latest NAWS meeting where the Bottineau’s leaders were told by the NAWS board that even though the project is still in court over an environmental impact study with the Canadian government, NAWS will continue to lay pipe for the project. Marsden and Fulsebakke were told that by the fall of 2013, NAWS’s waterline will be completed to Westhope Corners, with the drawing of the plans for Bottineau’s pipeline to start next summer.

It is uncertain when the court’s decision will be finalized for the water project, but NAWS did inform Marsden and Fulsebakke that Bottineau’s original contract of allocating the city’s 860,000 gallons per day still stands.

In other city news, the council met with Deputy Cole Watson of the Bottineau County Sheriff’s Department about police issues around the city. It was decided that the police department will be monitoring the traffic at the corner of Nichol and Fifth Street due to complaints of a large number of vehicles speeding through the intersection with very little yielding at the stop sign.

The sheriff’s department will also be enforcing the issue of keeping yards in the community clean of rather unsightly vehicles, which are being left in yards for residents and visitors to the city to witness while driving down the streets. Over the past number of months, the police have been successful in keeping yards clean of vehicles, and it is their hopes to care quickly for the remaining vehicles out in the open to be seen.

Riley Rogers and John Dueval, the new owners of The Preserve Development, which is located west of Bottineau’s Forestry Park, were present at the council meeting to request a rezoning from an “R-3” and “R-4” to just an “R-4” zone.

Rogers and Dueval, who recently purchased the development from another company, stated that they plan to redraw the lots and vacating the present plans for the plat and streets.

Although the two men did not speak in detail about their plans for the development, they do plan to remove the cul-de-sac from the plans and create a horseshoe development, making traffic flow and snow removal easier for the residents who will have homes or townhouses in the development. Rodgers and Dueval do plan to keep the 20-foot easement for access to the south side.

With the request on the rezoning, the council voted unanimously to hold a protest hearing for the rezoning of the development, which will take place on Monday, May 7 at the city armory, at 7 p.m.

The council also favored vacating the existing plat and street plans and accepting the Rogers and Dueval’s re-plat and street plans.

The Bottineau Farmers Elevator held its protest hearing to rezone a piece of land west of Oak Manor and Grace Lutheran Church to a “M” zone so the elevator can construct a weigh station. One protest was filed by Dick Kornkven in regards to the street congestion and how it will affect the residents of Oak Manor. With only one protest, which didn’t meet the percentile of protestors needed to disallow a vote by the council; and, a short discussion between Kornkven and the elevator board, which came to an agreement, the vote went forward with the council approving the rezone request for the Bottineau Farmers Elevator.
Bids for cement and mowing were open with Onarhiem Construction receiving the cement bid and Bob Abrahamson of Abe’s Lawn Service receiving the mowing bid.