Development’s erosion damaging property in Dickinson

• Meeting

Dickinson City Commissioner Carson Steiner looks at a petition Tuesday at the regular meeting at City Hall. Almost 40 people signed the petition, stating that Roers Development Inc. has caused topsoil to erode from a construction site in west Dickinson.

Talk about it

Erosion from a development site in west Dickinson has caused damages to the property of almost 40 residents, according to a petition Tuesday handed to the Dickinson City Commission during a regular meeting at City Hall.

“It really created a hassle for more than (David Kenjalo and Dustin Stuber),” Dickinson resident Tom Jorda said. “We have gone through three major dust storms, and I have been caught out with my daughter on a bike seeing one of those coming, and it’s not fun.”

Roers Development Inc., a Fargo-based construction company, is developing 80 acres of land for housing on the west side of town.

Wind has caused the topsoil to erode from the construction site, Kenjalo and Stuber said at a previous commission meeting Feb. 6. The two residents live near the construction site near 23rd Avenue West.

The erosion has built up in Kenjalo’s yard, and he claimed it would cost him about $20,000 to repair and replace items lost.

The commission invited representatives to address these issues.

Jorda handed the petition to the commissioners at the meeting Tuesday, asking that the city be stricter on code enforcement.

“It’s been obvious all year that there have been problems,” Jorda said. “Literally, it looks like the Sahara Desert out there.”

Three more developers have planned to start construction in the area, Jorda said.

He added that residents will have to deal with this issue for the next couple of years.

Winds and a lack of snow cover and moisture played a part in the erosion, said Roers vice president, Larry Nygard. He added Roers did what it was told to do to control the erosion, including applying “hundreds of thousands of gallons of water,” he said.

“We thought we had everything under control,” he said. “We were going through the steps that we thought were going to prevent something like this from happening, and the reality is they just haven’t.”

Nygard apologized for any damages caused to Kenjalo’s yard, adding Roers intends to remedy the situation in the fall.

Tags: dickinson city commission, property damage, news, erosion, roers, local