News

Bottineau city council meets

By Scott Wagar

05/15/2012

It was an evening of planning for Bottineau’s city council on May 7 as the alderman spent time with developers making attempts to prepare Bottineau as it grows.

Cyndy Gray, a senior consultant with SRF Consulting in Fargo, was present at the meeting and introduced SRF’s planning services to the councilmen on the importance of future land and development use in Bottineau due to an increase in oil activity in Bottineau County.  

No agreement was made between the city and SRF Consulting, but SRF is presently preparing a cost estimate to conduct work for the city of Bottineau, which will be presented to the council in June.

Roger Riley, the developer for the Preserve Development in the west end of town, was present as the council voted in favor of rezoning the development area into “R-4,” allowing Riley to move forward in building the development.

The council and Riley went on to discuss on how to financially cover the paving of the development, and in stalling a new lift station in that region. When it came to paving, the council voted in favor of 50/50 cost share, which will consist of city sales tax and special assessments.

The aldermen also approved the city installing the lift station, then assessing the cost back to the property owners in that area through a hook-up fee to off-set the cost.

The city’s attorney and Wold Engineering are working on an agreement between the city and the developing company for the two entities to sign.

Other items that are currently in discussion in the development include:

•  The entrance to Nelson Street might see some damage in the construction process of the development.
•  An additional 140 feet of curb and gutter will be needed on the east side of Nelson Street.
•  Water and sewer lines need to be extended to the development. The city is going to request from North Central Electric if its utility lines can be placed on its boulevard so that no streets will have to be destroyed in the development project.
•  Sidewalks will be installed without any concern of it interfering with snow removal.
•  The planning commission will have to discuss the larger lots on the north end of the development concerning curb and gutter.

These items will come back to the council table at a future date.

In other city news, Premises Investment requested that a Renaissance Zone application be approved for the former Ace Hardware building, which the company just purchased, and plans to construct apartments and offices in the building. The council voted in favor of the application.

In other city news, the EDC office requested on behalf of Turtle Mountain Pork that a Gateway balloon loan payment of $58,333 be extended for an additional five years. The balloon payment was due on April 30, but instead, TMP requested the payment be delayed for that time period. The council voted unanimously in favor of granting the five year extension.

The EDC also requested a Gateway loan for NAPA auto parts to assist them in starting up their business which will be opening on Highway 5. The loan request was $61,800 at three percent interest for seven years.

At that time, Penny Nostdahl, stated to the council that by passing this request for NAPA, it would expend the money allocated for the Gateway fund in 2012, which would mean that in the remaining eight months of the year, there would be little or no money for individuals to request from the Gateway to assist them in their business plans. With that, the council voted 4-to-1 in favor of granting NAPA the funding, with Ben Aufforth, Greg Bernstein, Jeff Hall and Troy Marsden voting in favor of the loan and Harley Getzlaff voting against the request by NAPA.

The expended Gateway fund will be brought to the EDC and Gateway committee’s attention due to the fact that all three entities must approve all Gateway fund requests.   

The public kiddy pool was also on the docket during the council meeting due to the fact the children’s pool doesn’t meet compliance when it comes to its own circulation and monitoring system. Presently, the system is shared with the adult pool, but it will have to be changed over before the children’s pool can be reopened.   

Associate Pool gave an estimated cost of $50,000 to conduct the work. However, Bernstein informed the council that he feels the city can find a lower cost to fix the kiddy pool and will conduct research into the matter and bring it back to the council. The aldermen voted in favor of allowing the recreation commission to go forward in the kiddy pool updates and obtain an estimated cost and other information to get the children’s pool in compliance.

Outside of the kiddy pool, the recreation commission has ordered a handicapped lift for the adult pool which is required by law and will be installed before the pool opens for the summer.

The next city council meeting will be June 4 at 7 p.m. in the east room of the city armory.

Editor’s Note: For more information on the Gateway Fund and SRF Consulting, go to the Front Page for the Gateway fund article and Page 4A for the SRF Consulting story.