Riverfront Pinch: Part 1
Joel Porter | 2/6/2012
Homes along the Missouri River sell at a premium. That`s been the case for decades. However, future building along the river bottoms may come to a screeching halt in some places.
After last summer`s flooding, Burleigh County leaders are considering a moratorium to restrict any new subdivisions until they can get protective measures in place. This comes at a time when the demand for housing in the area is tremendous.
The Missouri River sits at a non-threatening 10.5 feet. Despite this winter`s dry spell that followed last summer`s major flooding, Burleigh County commissioners are putting the brakes on any future building in the floodplain.
“I don`t think anybody intends to slow down building so much as we want building to be done in a safe fashion,” stated Commissioner Brian Bitner.
The discussion comes at a time when housing in Bismarck and Mandan is in high demand. County leaders state within a number of years, they`ll simply run out of plots for new homes.
I think there`s something to be stated about being down by the river and being in the trees. There`s not a lot of that left in the city or the state,” stated Patrick Koski with Trademark Realty.
The moratorium would restrict any new subdivisions in areas that were underwater last summer. That has yet to be approved. The county commission first needs to complete a flood master plan.
“To put a moratorium forever and ever down there, I just don`t think is a practical kind of solution for any of that. I just think we need to be cognizant of what the problems are and how we`re going to try to address those problems,” stated Burleigh County Engineer Marcus Hall.
Bitner states any homes that are already in the works in the floodplain will not be affected. “We`re not really able to unring the bell when it comes to existing development. So we`ll have to work with that. I`m sure any new homes that are built, we`ll want them to conform to new elevations.”
County leaders state once protective measures are in place, including raising roads and building a system of levees, hammers can once against begin swinging along the riverbottom.
“They may have purchased their piece of property and they wanted to build a dream house and they planned on building it high enough, and all of a sudden, we`re closing the door on that. Government needs to be sensitive about that,” stated Hall.
Hall adds it could take up to three years to get around 40 protective measures in place including building levees and raising roads. They`ll be discussing the issue at this evening`s county commission meeting.
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Submited at Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 at 8:00 pm on Uncategorized by samantha
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