Company proposes 3,000-person crew camp in east Dickinson
About 3,000 workers may soon be calling east Dickinson home, since an Austin, Texas company is proposing building a facility large enough to house them, officials say.
- Crew camp
About 3,000 workers may soon be calling east Dickinson home, since an Austin, Texas company is proposing building a facility large enough to house them, officials say.
The crew camp proposed by Accommodate International would be on Energy Drive and construction could begin this summer, said Chief Executive Officer John Wolff.
“Assuming we get final approval in the next couple of months, we’re hoping to break ground by late summer and begin construction immediately,” Wolff said. “We’re going to work very hard to get 1,000 rooms up and working by the end of the fourth quarter.”
He expects the project to be completed about two years after construction begins.
City Administrator Shawn Kessel said the site has already been identified as a good location for a crew camp.
“We didn’t want it to be on one of our entrances to our community,” he said. “We’ve been pretty particular about the type of crew camp that we want here because we understand that there’s concerns out there being expressed by residents.”
Due to increased oil activity in the area, temporary housing for workers is needed, Kessel added.
“So we don’t want to build a permanent home for somebody who’s only going to occupy it on a temporary nature. That will cause a bust and put us in a tough economic situation if that happens,” he said. “What we’d rather do is put temporary workforce in temporary housing so that when the demand for that workforce is no longer, the temporary housing goes away and you don’t have such a significant impact on your economy.”
Wolff said although the buildings will look like permanent apartment buildings, they will be temporary.
“Because they’re steel, modular units they can be taken apart and put other places,” Wolff said.
One person will reside in each 212-square-foot room and each room will have a private bathroom, he added.
“It’s very similar to college campus-type housing,” Wolff said.
The facility will be arranged into four buildings three to four stories high on about 44 acres. Accommodate International will provide food and beverage service, game rooms, laundry, arcades, mail service, exercise rooms, Wi-Fi, computer rooms and television relaxation areas.
“In the core will be a main accommodation center where everybody can gather for food and everything else,” Wolff said. “Some of the rooms will be taken up by staff. We’re going to have a large staff out there, obviously to handle the needs of the workers.”
Jerry Krieg, Dickinson Planning and Zoning Board member, said lack of housing makes this type of a project desirable.
“Something along this line is needed for the community to give them time to get their infrastructure in place,” he said.
Kessel said the proposal appears to be a “quality” project.
“They’re putting together a product that is not only going to look nice as you go by, you won’t expect it to be a crew camp,” he said
The issue will be discussed at the May 16 Planning and Zoning meeting which begins at 7 a.m. at City Hall, Kessel said.
“We’re looking forward to being part of the community to help you out with the great growth that’s taking place in Dickinson,” Wolff said.
Tags: crew camp, oil, news, local, dickinson
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