The Fargo Planning Commission on Sept. 4 approved a planned unit development master plan, rezoning and minor subdivision to redevelop the 40 Fifth Street site into a mixed residential and innovation campus called Cove. The action cleared the project to proceed to future final PUD plans and permit review.

The proposal, presented by planning staff and the applicant team, would adapt an existing large office structure and add a new front-building addition of up to 85 feet in height that would contain predominantly residential units, with supporting commercial and innovation-oriented uses in the rehabilitated existing building. Megan Alsaug, a planner with the City of Fargo Planning and Development Department, told the commission the master plan anticipates roughly 225 residential units and about 200,000 square feet of innovation-oriented uses; the applicant said that number could rise to about 250 units as plans are refined.

The project team described residential unit mix and parking assumptions that formed the basis for several requested modifications. “We are at 225 right now. We’re looking at anywhere in the range of 225 to 250,” said Nate Beaumont of Goldmark Design Development, the applicant’s lead architect. The master plan requests: a rezoning from LI (Light Industrial) with a conditional overlay and General Commercial to General Commercial with a PUD overlay; a subdivision to combine existing parcels; a waiver to the Drain 40 setback; and several PUD standards adjustments, including residential parking reduction and a special parking ratio for research-and-development uses.

Why it matters: the site sits along 40 Fifth Street near Drain 40 and abuts West Fargo and city-owned detention facilities. The commission’s approval establishes the zoning framework and lot configuration that will guide detailed permitting, site engineering and final PUD plans. Alsaug said staff coordinated with engineering and with the Southeast Cass Water Resource District on the drain-setback waiver and confirmed the necessary right-of-way is in place for the underground drain.

Key details presented to the commission: staff reviewed a parking study that used the Institute of Transportation Engineers generation manual and Metro COG guidance and calculated a maximum demand of about 943 stalls; combining code parking requirements with the applicant’s requested ratios would have required about 964 stalls, and the master plan shows 1,101 on-site stalls (about 137 surplus stalls relative to the combined estimates). The applicant also described a proposed underground parking ramp at the north side of the site that would serve the building. The proposed residential unit breakdown shown in the packet was 7 efficiency units, 105 one-bedroom units, 98 two-bedroom units and 15 three-bedroom units. The PUD would set a maximum building height of 85 feet and a required minimum of 15% open space.

Commission discussion focused on the project’s evolution, parking, stormwater and the drain setback. Commissioners asked whether prior conditional use permits allowing industrial uses in parts of the building had been used; the applicant confirmed earlier CUPs had not been implemented on site. On stormwater, the applicant and civil engineer explained the site would not increase impervious area compared with current conditions and that runoff routes to the existing stormwater pond east of the property.

The commission voted to approve the zoning change, PUD master plan and minor subdivision; the staff recommendation on the packet was adopted. The approval does not authorize final construction permits — final PUD plans and permit-level engineering will return at a later stage for review and approval.

Next steps: the applicant must submit final PUD plans (permit plans), secure any required encroachment agreements for right-of-way landscaping along 40 Fifth Street and complete engineering review. The applicant team said they would continue refining unit counts, elevations and internal circulation before the final PUD application.