Addition on fast track, plan created 6 years ago follows through

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State Addition

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Nearly six years after doing master planning and zoning changes in the western portion of the State Addition in Dickinson, officials said it has developed with housing as expected but is a year ahead of schedule.

In 2005 the State Addition between the Interstate 94 Business Loop and States Street in west Dickinson underwent zoning to make it mostly single family residential, excluding a section to the northwest that was designated as commercial, City Engineer Shawn Soehren said. Soehren served as an ex-officio member of the Planning and Zoning Commission then and he said the group was always expecting the area to incorporate other types of housing.

“The thought at the time was let’s put it as single family and let the development come in,” Soehren said. “It has not been a surprise that they have come in with development of apartments on the business loop.”

Former City Planner Ed Karsky retired in 2002, but he said the development is following the plan, just with more land.

“It is just plat after plat,” he said. “There is good stuff being done there.”

The area south of Fairway Street remains residential, incorporating single-family homes and staggered layout with townhouse and apartment zoning as well.

The area designated for apartments runs along the Interstate 94 Business Loop and townhouses are adjacent and serve as a buffer between the apartment buildings and the single family homes, City Planner Ed

Courton said.

The change from single-family homes to apartments was a response to a recent housing shortage caused by a major influx in population, Courton said. The area has been affected by a recent oil boom.

“Apartments are one dwelling structure to accommodate that,” he said.

Soehren estimated that half of the residential acreage has been developed.

Roers Construction President Shane Roers is working as a contractor for many of the buildings going up in the State Addition and he said the remaining residential area will be developed sooner than some might expect.

“I think you can say the end of this year for development of the residential lots,”

Roers said.

Soehren said this was an accelerated development to accommodate the need for housing.

“I think we are a year ahead of what was originally thought, maybe more,” Soehren said. “Based on the original plans and development it was possibly a five-year build-out, now we are into a three to four year timeframe.”

“As demand became greater, we kicked it in gear,” Roers said.

Two apartments were recently completed, Roers said, and three more are expected to be standing in eight weeks.

The Addition will see almost 6,000 feet of new concrete roads by the new year, Roers said.

Jacinta Ring moved into the neighborhood with her family about a year ago and she said she was amazed how quickly the area developed.

“There are new homes popping up everywhere,” she said, estimating that a few houses up the street took only a few months to construct.

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