Developer and residents oppose public right‑of‑way; commission leaves prior decision in place after safety testimony

The Mandan City Commission on April 21 left a prior November 18, 2025 decision intact to preserve a public right of way connecting Meadowlands phase 2 to 18th Avenue, after residents, developers and the fire department made competing claims about safety, privacy and emergency access.

City staff told the commission the recommended right of way would improve long‑term connectivity and emergency response. Mr. Neubauer summarized staff’s position that the right of way should be developed to provide both neighborhood connectivity and a reliable route for emergency services.

The dispute drew a forceful response from Meadowlands developer Barry Jennings, who said his company had halted further development of phase 2 pending the commission’s action. "Meadowlands development has halted any further development on its phase 2 final plat proposal pending the commissioner's decision on this right of way issue," Jennings said, arguing the subdivision and the adjacent Gateway Mobile Home Park were designed as separate private communities and that a public connection would harm seniors’ privacy and property values.

Nick Sebula, owner of Gateway Mobile Home Park, submitted a written comment opposing any public connection through his property, saying Gateway’s internal roads are private and not designed to serve as public throughways. "Gateway is a privately owned community... Introducing additional traffic ... would create significant safety risks and negatively impact the character and livability in the community," Sebula wrote, asking the commission to exclude any future public right of way without owner consent.

City staff and some commissioners pressed the planning context and safety tradeoffs. Jerrick, a city staff member, noted the Meadowlands area has approximately 200 units served by a single access point and said adding a consistent, maintained second access point would reduce vulnerability to access problems at the primary entrance. He also explained that the North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) had raised concerns in 2015 about a north access onto Memorial Highway but that the earlier process resulted in an access arrangement that included a gated easement for emergency use.

Ulmer, who had worked on the project during the preliminary plat phase, cited written NDDOT correspondence from 2015 that raised concerns about the effect of a north access on Memorial Highway traffic, but said the department later approved a conditional connection with a gated emergency easement.

Chief Bitz of the fire department gave direct, operational reasons for maintaining an assured public connection. "We have documented history of that gate being blocked either by snow or basketball hoops or bicycles or overgrown trees," he said, and recommended that the city secure a public right of way to ensure emergency access is reliable rather than dependent on intermittent gate maintenance.

Other planning staff reiterated general best practices for connectivity, noting the long‑term nature of street layouts and pedestrian access benefits. Residents and the developer pushed for maintaining an emergency access arrangement that preserves controlled access and privacy rather than opening a public throughway.

With no motion made to change staff recommendations, the commission chair said the November 18, 2025 decision stands and moved the agenda on to new business. The developer left the record stating that the right‑of‑way requirement had paused phase 2 development.

What's next: The commission did not adopt any new amendment or timetable on the record; staff indicated the prior approval and related conditions from November 2025 remain operative.