The Belfield City Council upheld the Zoning Board's recommendation to deny one of Belfield resident Ken Stoppleworth's requests for a change in zoning at a meeting held Monday night in the city council room of the Memorial Hall.
Stoppleworth had requested that 12 Belfield lots currently zoned for agricultural or industrial use be rezoned for residential use.
"Mr. Stoppleworth is very disappointed in the council's decision," said Mark Sherer, a lawyer with Ebeltoft Sickler Lawyers in Dickinson, Stoppleworth's representative. "He was hopeful the zoning request would be approved so that Belfield would see more new families and, in turn, grow and prosper."
Stoppleworth requested to rezone five lots near Fifth Avenue Southeast from agricultural to R-3, one lot also along Fifth Avenue Southeast from Industrial to R-3 and four lots along Fourth Street Southeast from Industrial to R-3, and two lots also on Fourth Street Southeast from R-2 to R-3.
R-2 is one- and two-family housing. R-3 is defined as apartments, single- and multiple-family dwellings, townhomes and duplexes.
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Stoppleworth's request was met by strong opposition at the meeting.
Area residents were concerned about overdeveloping the town without demand and had reservations because they felt the details in the plan for development of the area were vague or non-existent.
"There are plenty of vacant lots and houses in town that are not being developed or used," said Zoning Board member Ken Solberg. "We need to be responsible in our decision making."
Zoning Board member Don Jablonsky agreed with Solberg and added he would like to see the empty lots get filled first.
The zoning board had concerns about changing the lots to residential because of the types of structures in the area and the amount of traffic the streets see.
"There is a good chance of young children being in that area and I don't see them playing along side semis, and industrial buildings and structures to be a good thing," Zoning Board Chairman Kevin Hushka said.
Belfield Mayor Leo Schneider said he opposes the zoning changes because of what happened in the 1980s.
"There was a lot of development while the oil was here and then we went bankrupt over the deal, we are still feeling the effects of that and I hate to see it happen again," Schneider said.
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Stoppleworth's also made a request to rezone 10 lots near Main Street and Fourth Avenue Southeast from Agricultural to MH-3 (mobile home court). The area is currently an RV park.
After some discussion, Stoppleworth amended the rezoning request to be from agricultural to recreational, as it was not his intent to place mobile homes on the lots but rather keep the area an RV park.
The zoning board will again notify nearby landowners of this request, will publish it and hold another hearing before any decisions are made.
