Grand Forks pursuing planning commission changes to include military presence
"The city of Grand Forks and the Grand Forks Air Force Base have a great relationship and we want to continue that," Grand Forks City Council President Dana Sande said. "In my opinion, it just makes more sense for the communities that are affected by these military influence zones (to add representation) instead of creating some commission or even a military influence zone."
Both the city and the county of Grand Forks are looking to change their planning and zoning commissions. The proposed changes are still in the preliminary stages and any changes to these bodies are still several weeks away at the earliest. The proposed legislation that has spurred conversation, Senate Bill 2398, has laid out creating a state commission to study encroachment and impact zones around the state's military installations.
The bill has been heavily amended since it was originally introduced, but its original version would have created a 25-mile area around the base. In many local interpretations of the proposal, it would have meant nearly every single land use decision in Grand Forks would have been subject to state review.
The spirit of the bill originates in the
Fufeng controversy, according to the bill's authors.
The Fufeng company, which has ties to the Chinese government, was in negotiations with the city to build a wet corn mill plant on the north side of Grand Forks. The project raised national security concerns with its proximity to Grand Forks Air Force Base and the Air Force has said that it was
not notified of the project until it went public. The Air Force also said it would have appreciated more notice.
Avoiding another controversy like Fufeng, but also other mundane planning and zoning items, was also brought up by the Grand Forks County Commission when members discussed changing their planning and zoning commission at their March 4 meeting.
"Even here at this board level, we had to go in and call a special meeting
to set up more parameters for that radar tower,"
Commissioner Mark Rustad said during the meeting. "It's nice to have somebody in the room that has some sort of a sense of this ripple effect our decisions possibly have on the base."
The radar tower in question was a special use permit that was approved by the County Commission last summer. The county had approved the meeting, but later had to amend the permit in a special meeting to ensure more communication between the various military entities in the area.
With SB 2398 still being considered by the Legislature, some on Grand Forks Planning and Zoning felt like amending their composition needed more time to see how the state decides to move forward, especially given the limited information on whether the base is even interested in having representation on these commissions.
"I think we're putting the cart in front of the horse a little bit," Grand Forks Planning Commissioner Steven Wasvick said on March 5. "We don't know a lot of information and all of a sudden it ends up on a bill and ends up on the radio and everywhere else."
Adding a military member would also likely ensure that the air base is receiving the many land development proposals and changes that the planning and zoning commissions use. While the meetings are publicly noticed, being a member would ensure direct staff contact rather than having to learn about the material through other means.
As of now, the local proposals are still in their infancy. Grand Forks Planning and Zoning gave preliminary approval to an ordinance change on March 5, with the intent to keep the conversation going; the change would still take several weeks and the soonest a change would occur is likely mid-April. The county's proposed change is also still at the beginning, with
county staff having been directed by the County Commission
to begin drafting a proposal for the base.
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