With very few protests, city proceeds to design phase of street project

New Rockford city commissioners gathered Monday morning to review objections made to the street project.

Property owners representing 2.18 percent of the project area sent letters protesting the project, based on linear footage to be assessed. The protested areas cover 2,182 linear feet of the 100,074 total feet in the project. In other words, very few have formally expressed their opposition to moving forward with the $8.75 million project.

Per the North Dakota Century Code, when the protests represent anything below 50 percent of the project area, the decision about whether to proceed with the project is up to the commission’s discretion. “However, even at 25-30 percent, I would think twice about moving forward,” President Stuart Richter noted.

The deadline for written protests was Wednesday, Nov. 10. The only member of the public present at the meeting was resident Craig Voigt.

“I hope that the assessments will be leveled correctly based on the benefit,” Voigt said, reiterating that in his opinion, property owners on gravel streets receive a lot less benefit from the project than those who have paved streets.

Richter said it will be up to the three-member assessment committee to determine the benefit to each individual property owner, and that the focus is on making the assessments fair and equitable, based on the benefit received. The commission will then review the committee’s proposal and ultimately approve it.

Commissioners then voted unanimously to consider the protests insufficient and formally move ahead with the project.

The next step is for Interstate Engineering to design the project. Wade Senger said engineers have made some generalizations on the project and prepared preliminary estimates so far. They will now dive into issues brought up during the meetings, and determine the actual work to be done, block by block.

Meanwhile the special assessment committee, composed of Ardyce Snyder, Corey Longnecker and Jerry Seibold, will begin meeting to determine the benefit to each property owner.