Subdivision plans hit snag over pipeline

• Zoning

Zoning

Talk about it

A proposed nearly 147-acre subdivision that could eventually feature a pond and snowboarding hills met some concerns during a Dickinson Planning and Zoning Commission meeting Wednesday morning as underground oil lines run through the area.

The preliminary plat for Koch’s Meadow Hills First Addition, being developed by Mike Koch, is proposed to feature general commercial, low and medium-density residential and single-family lots.

Divided into phases, the first addition would encompass about 14 acres whose east boundary line abuts 10th Avenue West, said Harvey Schneider of Mandan-based Toman Engineering Co.

Schneider said the developer would eventually request the area be annexed into city limits.

“When the annexation is requested for this particular subdivision, we’ll also be asking for the phase two and three areas to be annexed at the same time,” Schneider said.

Proposed access points for the first phase will be a combination of 10th and 12th avenues west and 29th Street West.

Developer Mike Koch said he is starting to receive calls from prospective buyers and businesses.

However, a production company is concerned with the development’s location.

Bruce Selinger of law firm Kubik, Bogner, Ridl & Selinger in Dickinson, representing Klein Production Co., owners and operators of a pipeline that runs through the property, expressed the company’s concerns with the proposal.

“This proposed plat, the pipeline’s basically going to run through 11 lots,” Selinger said. “The pipeline company obviously has some great concerns about a pipeline running through a residential area. It will definitely affect if there is a leak, a repair or a replacement. You’re going to have problems with lawns, fences and more importantly safety issues.”

The engineering company drafted the plat to provide a 30-foot easement, but Selinger says a minimum 50-foot easement is needed for access.

“It’s not a question of if this pipeline is going to leak or fail its equipment that’s going to fail at some point and we will need to get there and repair it or replace it,” said Fred Klein of Klein Production Co.

About six to eight feet of dirt presently sit over the pipeline, Klein said.

The pipeline would also run through a proposed park, Selinger says.

“Pipelines aren’t supposed to leak but they sometimes do and with that now you have a pipeline in somebody else’s backyard,” Selinger said.

To keep the project’s momentum going, the Planning and Zoning Commission passed the preliminary plat advising developers to address the issue and the matter will be revisited at the next meeting.

A replat for the North Industries Addition, a 163-acre development north of town, was passed after two lots were added at the request of a perspective buyer, who is looking to purchase about 40 acres, said Walt Smith of Kadrmas Lee & Jackson.

Smith said the addition of the two lots is because the prospective buyer wants to construct a fuel station/depot.

A final plat for the Lamont Addition, a subdivision encompassing an under-construction Hampton Inn near Interstate 94, was tabled to the next meeting as three to four issues were raised with the plat of which needed addressing and no representative for the development was present, City Engineer Shawn Soehren said.

Tags: oil, news, subdivision, annex, pipline