Burleigh County committee directs consultant to study public road dedication, zoning and leases for fairgrounds complex

At a committee meeting, the Burleigh County planning committee authorized consultant firm Swenson Hagen to meet with the City of Bismarck and report back on the parameters for dedicating public roadways and the infrastructure needed for a proposed replat and zoning cleanup of the fairgrounds complex.

The action followed a detailed presentation by Jason of Swenson Hagen outlining a two-track approach: run a zoning change to clean up the full plat, while concurrently preparing a preliminary and final plat for the southern portion of the complex. Jason said the team aims to begin city application steps this winter, with a theoretical target of wrapping zoning by March 25 and recording a finalized plat roughly two to three weeks after a June approval if reviews proceed on schedule.

Committee members pressed on whether roads in the complex should be public or remain private. Jason told the group that public dedication would allow the city to maintain infrastructure and enable financing options such as special assessment projects; by contrast, private streets or easements would leave construction and ongoing maintenance costs to the property owner. "If this board elects to have a public right-of-way, the city would be able to maintain that infrastructure," Jason said. He also described typical steps: a pre-application, an SMO scoping sheet to engineering, staff review, planning and zoning public hearings and then city commission review.

County Commissioner Dwayne said the financing decision is essentially a budgeting choice for commissioners and emphasized that he opposed converting core costs into user fees: "I don't believe that it should ever be a user fee," he said, adding that the county could instead fund maintenance from property-tax-derived budgets or pursue a special assessment to spread costs over a longer term.

Members discussed practical trade-offs: a public street would likely be built to city standards (curb, gutter, storm sewer) and could be financed in part by a multi-year special assessment; a private street or easement could be narrower or gravel but would place all long-term liability and maintenance on the county or the property owner. Jason warned that city policy generally disfavors private streets and that utility, stormwater and site-plan requirements apply because the property lies inside city limits.

The committee also debated existing leases and future site operations. Jason recommended against embedding long-term leases on the plat and suggested user agreements or shorter, standardized conveyances that give the committee operational flexibility. He and other speakers urged attorney review before consolidating or eliminating existing leases, noting leases on the site are inconsistent in form and would require time and legal work to harmonize.

After discussion, the committee voted to authorize Swenson Hagen to meet with City of Bismarck staff to investigate public dedication of rights-of-way, special-assessment and construction options, and to return with findings and recommended parameters for the committee and county commission. The motion passed by voice vote; the meeting record does not list a roll-call tally.

Committee members asked Swenson Hagen to include in its report: the city's likely standards for road width and surfacing, what elements could be special-assessed versus developer responsibility, estimated phasing and timeline for plat and zoning approvals, and options for lease/user-agreement templates and legal pathways to reconcile or vacate existing leases.

The committee did not approve construction funding or change existing leases at the meeting; members indicated that any subsequent decisions about construction expenditures or lease termination would go to the full county commission for review and approval.

Looking ahead, Swenson Hagen will schedule meetings with city staff, return to the committee with a findings report and proposed right-of-way placement, and provide timeline estimates for the plat and zoning sequence described during the presentation.