Minot planning panel backs rezoning and interim permit to enable stormwater project, despite neighbors’ objections

MINOT, N.D. — The Minot Planning Commission voted Feb. 4 to recommend that City Council approve a package of land-use changes for property at 2100 Valley Street that would rezone the site from R-1 single-family residential to M-1 light industrial, amend the future land-use map to light industrial, approve a preliminary two-lot plat and issue an interim use permit allowing continued extraction of mineral materials through Jan. 1, 2036.

The actions were taken to enable a planned Ward County Water Resource Board stormwater project on one of the new lots and to formalize a long‑standing, legal nonconforming extraction use on the other lot, city planning staff said. The commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to City Council for final decisions expected at its Feb. 25 meeting.

City planning staff told commissioners the property at 2100 Valley Street is currently mapped R-1 under the city’s extraterritorial zoning (not inside city limits) but has historically been used for clay extraction. The proposed preliminary plat would split the site into two lots: one to continue limited clay/soil extraction and one to host a stormwater/erosion-control project aimed at reducing runoff and sediment entering the Souris River, staff said. Staff recommended approval with conditions including a termination date of Jan. 1, 2036, and a land-reclamation requirement at the end of extraction or submission of a development plan.

"This permit just then codifies those entitlements," city planning staff member Diedrichsen said, explaining that the interim use permit brings the site under the city’s land development ordinance protections for neighboring properties while allowing the existing legal nonconforming use to continue.

Why it matters: city staff said the Jan. 1, 2036…