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City buys property for new campgrounds
The City of Kenmare will develop a new campground for RVs, with a plan to eventually sell off the existing campgrounds for commercial development.
7/13/11 (Wed)
By Terry Froseth
The City of Kenmare will develop a new campground for RVs, with a plan to eventually sell off the existing campgrounds for commercial development.
At its monthly meeting on Monday, the council approved the purchase of property northwest of the old city landfill in south Kenmare for a price of $175,000.
The parcel, owned by councilman Butch Norrie, consists of Norrie’s 3-bedroom home, a 24’ x 40’ garage, and a 40’x 80’ insulated shop with office space from which Norrie operated his plumbing and heating business. The remainder of the property purchased, about one city block, is vacant and unimproved.
Norrie had the property listed for sale with a realtor for $199,900. As part of the purchase price, the city will pay a three percent commission to the realtor, and allow Norrie to stay in the house, rent-free, until December 1st.
The city owns three of the four vacant blocks directly north of the old landfill, and to the east of Norrie’s home.
A plan has been drawn up to develop the area for workforce housing (man camp trailers) nearest to the old landfill. A nice neighborhood for mobile homes would be developed in the center portion of the city lots, with a campground for RVs on the Norrie property, as well as space designated for single or multifamily residence at the north end of the city lots along Division Street.
Council president Chuck Leet said, “We need to develop an RV park.”
Leet said the recommendation from the council’s Ways and Means committee was to purchase all of the Norrie property at the discounted price. “We feel that if we don’t do this, we lose our best chance to have an RV park.”
City engineer Ryan Ackerman provided a drawing of the development, which included the city’s current property, the Norrie property, and a block owned by another party in between. Leet said the owner of the block setting between the city property and Norrie property was not interested in selling, as he has his own development plans.
Councilman Troy Hedberg said the city would continue to operate the campground adjacent to Highway 52, north of the Pizza Hub, until such time as the property was desired for commercial development. Hedberg indicated the city would use the Norrie shop, but would outlot the house and resell it after the area had been developed.
Alderman Norrie abstained from the vote to purchase his property.
The city will close on the purchase August 8th.
City sells lots
The city also sold some of its property on Monday.
Bids were opened for four lots the city had acquired from Ward County. The city had cleared dilapidated structures from three of the lots before offering them for sale on bids.
KDAK, a company that currently has a new house for sale and another under construction in northeast Kenmare, north of the baseball field, was the high bidder on two of the city properties. With bids of $5350 each, KDAK purchased a lot on 3rd Avenue NW and another on 3rd Avenue NE.
Clyde Golde was the high bidder, at $1000, for a lot north of his home, also on 3rd Avenue NE.
Bids were rejected on a fourth lot, at the corner of Sixth Street NW and 2nd Avenue NW, as the lot is much smaller than it was described in the advertisement for bids. The lot will be offered for sale later, with a corrected description.
Water and Sewer
extension approved
The low bid of $172,136 from Kuechle Underground was accepted for the Water and Sewer System Expansion - Phase I project.
Other bids were considerably higher, at $259,731 from Quam Construction, and $264,859 from Post Construction.
The engineer had estimated the probable cost at $188,435.
This project will extend the sanitary sewer from the existing system at Old Highway 52 and 4th Avenue SE (near Jim Ackerman residence) to the intersection of Soo Street and 7th Avenue SE (northeast corner of the old landfill).
Total cost of the project is expected to be $220,000, with $20,656.32 for design engineering, $10,328.16 for construction engineering, $1,000 for administrative expense, and $15,879.52 for contingency.
Fund Itt
The council gave its approval to a Fund Itt interest buydown grant to the new owners of the Pizza Hub.
Mark and Kathy Cook applied for an interest buydown on their loan to buy the Pizza Hub business.
The Bank of North Dakota will buy down 5% of the interest through its Flex Pace program on $124,500, which is half of the loan. They require community participation on a buy down for the other half of the loan.
Fund Itt granted a 3.5% buydown on $124,500 for 20 years, amounting to $52,248.92 total, with a balloon payment in 2018 if the city sales tax is voted down. The annual payment from Fund Itt will be approximatley $4000.
A matching grant of $1500 for business improvements was approved to Jan Kostad CPA towards new doors costing $4000 from Farmers Union Lumber of Kenmare.
Boil the water
and conserve
The City of Kenmare remains under a “boil order” for its drinking water. Since Minot flooded, Kenmare has been using the water stored in the NAWS tower outside of town, as well as that stored in the city’s own tower and cistern. That supply was used up and Kenmare is again taking water from the Minot Water Treatment Plant.
Minot’s water supply has not been tested and the State Health Department recommends it be boiled before use for drinking or in food preparation.
Kenmare public works director Mike Thompson said the city still needs to conserve water, possibly for another 10 days.
In other action:
• The city’s accountant, Jan Kostad, presented a financial report, including an estimate the city could have approximately $225,000 available in its infrastructure fund from city sales tax by the end of this year.
• A raffle permit was approved to the Honker Boosters Club.
• A resolution was approved authorizing the issue of water revenue bonds amounting to $1.2 million for the new city water tower. The 3 percent revenue bonds will be issued though the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund.
• Public Hearings were held on the rezoning, replatting, and annexation for the Gooseneck Implement property, and the Annabelle Homes development. Each of the annexations were passed on second reading.
• Approved on second reading the adoption of a new city ordinance book, as provided through the League of Cities. New fee structures for building permit fees were also approved as amendments to the new ordinances.
• Three applicants have been interviewed for the city auditor/ economic development executive director position. An additional application was received at the auditor’s office on Monday.
• City engineer Ryan Ackerman submitted a grant application on the city’s behalf for $1,604,025 from the Energy Infrastructure and Impact Grant program. The grants would be used towards the new water tower and the infrastructure to the Gooseneck Implement and Annabelle Homes developments. Ackerman said the city should hear back on the grant in a couple weeks.
• The Fire Department received a $17,000 Oil Impact grant for new pagers. The current pagers are from the 1980s, Leet said, and must be replaced by 2013.