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Dickinson moves forward
What a difference a year makes. At the end of September 2010 the City of Dickinson issued building permits for new construction whose valued totaled $44,685,838. In the month of September 2011 alone the City of Dickinson issued building permits for new construction with a value of $39,315,002. Last year the City of Dickinson issued more commercial building permits than any other ND city. This year we have issued almost twice the number of commercial building permits we issued last year at this time. Last year at this time we issued 26 permits for multi-family housing and this year we have issued 66 to date. The pace of growth is faster this year than last and we predict that next year may outpace this year.
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Dickinson's multi-million dollar growth, major increase in permits
Dickinson's recent growth may already be challenging the city's resources, but officials said Tuesday that building permit numbers have increased significantly and the city could see more growth before the end of the year. "It really puts a lot of pressure on city staff to keep up with growth," Dickinson Mayor Dennis Johnson said. "While we welcome the growth it is a challenge to manage it." Through September, the city has issued more than $97 million worth of building permits. During the same period last year, that value stood at nearly $44 million. Last month alone saw the issuance of more than $39.32 million in permits. With an oil boom in western North Dakota fueling Dickinson's growth, City Planner Ed Courton said it was a busy month. Categories experiencing the most significant increases in permit issuances include commercial and multi-family housing. With 33 commercial permits granted through September, the city issued nearly double the number of last year's 18. Multi-family housing permits are at 66 - nearly triple last year's number. And those aren't the only growing numbers. Courton said the assessed value for new commercial structures in September was $32.92 million. "Just in one month we have had three times the assessed value," Courton said. "That just shows you the complexity and large developments we are having compared to last year." The main contributors to the increase in permit values are hotels, commercial projects and industrial projects, Courton said. The larger buildings have higher values. "Compared to a couple years ago, we were building smaller buildings," Courton said. "Over the last year or so we have been building bigger complexes." The next few months could be even busier. "There is the big push before the winter," Courton said. "More and more people are coming in trying to get their projects moving forward before the winter happens." Construction companies have also noticed the increase. Kolling and Kolling Inc. President Kim Kolling said his company is "extremely busy." "We are turning work down," he said. "We can't go fast enough. It seems like it is only going to get worse." Courton said the city could see a growth of 20 percent to 30 percent next year. Johnson said how much growth the city will see will depend on oil production. "It's really hard to predict how much growth is heading our way," Johnson said. "As long as prices remain stable, we are going to grow."
Source: The Dickinson Press |
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Energy insider
More oil is coming out of Western North Dakota than ever before, 113 million barrels of North Dakota sweet crude came to the surface in 2010. Through July, 2011, producers have pumped 78 million barrels. All that oil has to get to markets and refineries that are, at best, hundreds, but most often, thousands of miles away.
Source: KFYR |
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Input sought for Dickinson plan
What's in store for Dickinson's future? City officials are asking residents the same questions. Largely due to increased construction and traffic in Dickinson, officials held a press conference Tuesday to discuss revising the city's comprehensive and transportation plan. City officials and engineering firm Kadrmas, Lee & Jackson began work on the study "2035 Roadmap to the Future, a Comprehensive and Transportation Plan" about a month ago, Robert Shannon of KL&J said. "We want to make sure that as we develop a vision, we're looking forward with a broad enough view that we can really try and create something that people are going to be happy living in Dickinson and people are going to want to raise their family here," Shannon said. He and Dickinson City Planner Ed Courton are urging Dickinson residents to give input for the comprehensive and transportation plan. An open house at the West River Community Center is scheduled for tomorrow from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. to allow people to vocalize what they do or don't want changed in the city. "We don't want to have a plan in which the city is providing it and bringing it forth to the public, we want to have the public bring forth a plan that the city can adopt," Courton said. The area being reviewed encompasses the land 6 miles outside city limits, Courton said. Stark County officials will be included in the plan to allow for a "seamless plan," he added. The revised plan will address issues such as land use and development, how city infrastructure is managed and transportation. "One of the expectations that we know already is that man camps are not very desirable by the public for a variety of reasons," Shannon said. "We know that people are concerned about the semi traffic going down Highway 22, right by the schools, right through the downtown and what can we do to try and help them?" Courton said the plan may also help alleviate the housing crunch and bring down living costs. "For us to double our growth - that would be about 36,000 - we would need to probably build an additional 20,000 housing units," Courton said. "As a city what we could do is provide the infrastructure in order to accommodate for future growth. With that we could develop policies to provide more diverse housing units." Short and long term goals will be included. "We need to have immediate action items and not just a list of projects that comes out of here, but how do we implement action plans?" Shannon said. "We're not looking at just projects, but policy and how do we change the way some things are done?" The plan will look 20 years into the future, but Craig Kubas of KL&J said it will be dynamic, allowing for future changes as necessary. An all-day workshop will be held Nov. 17 where officials will be brainstorming and the public can interact with them. "Throughout the winter and the spring, we'll be having some additional public meetings where we'll be coming back and reporting on what we did find with our analysis," Shannon said. "So next spring and into the summer, we'll be discussing our draft recommendations and formulating that into a final action plan that would be adopted by August." Dickinson residents are invited to fill out a survey that can be found at www.dickinsonplan.com to tell city officials how they feel about the future of Dickinson.
Source: The Dickinson Press |
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Whiting Petroleum looks to build pipeline near Belfield
Whiting Petroleum Corp., a Denver company with a foothold in the western North Dakota oil basin, is seeking approval to build a crude oil pipeline northeast of Belfield. The North Dakota Public Service Commission met Monday morning to hear testimonies regarding an application for a certificate of corridor compatibility, as well as an application for a route permit to authorize construction and operation on a crude oil pipeline. Nicole Tebow, a pipeline compliance specialist for Whiting, said the pipeline would reduce truck traffic coming off Belfield's Whiting oil terminal. "Trucking increases the risk of traffic accidents, dust and wear and tear on the roads," Tebow said. "We are trying to reduce that." Tebow added the capacity of the pipeline would be equivalent to loading 273 trucks a day. Whiting would build the pipeline 6 miles northeast of Belfield. The pipeline would be 6.8 miles long and 8 inches in diameter. Tebow said the construction would cost $3.36 million. The proposed pipeline would eventually connect to the Skunk Hill facility - located about 18 miles northwest of Dickinson, or about 12 miles northeast of Belfield - where it would connect to the Bridger pipeline, Tebow said. Whiting has been in contact with the owners of the land the pipeline would cross, Tebow said, and added she has heard no opposition from anyone in the area. Judge Allen Hoberg of Bismarck said the project must meet several conditions, such as producing no adverse effects on the environment and welfare of the citizens of North Dakota. Environmental project manager Bill Regan said the project meets those conditions and added there were no cultural impacts. Wildlife was also a concern expressed at the meeting. Regan said there should be no adverse effect on migratory birds, including whooping cranes. If whooping cranes are spotted flying within a mile of the construction site, construction would cease. "In my opinion, it is pretty unlikely that a whooping crane is going to stop by a construction site," Regan said. "It could happen." If the commission approves the permit, construction on the pipeline would begin in two to three weeks. Tebow said Whiting wanted to start construction before winter. "We believe that (construction) through the winter will be expensive and much more time-consuming," Tebow said. The application was submitted June 11. Public Service Commission compliance and competitive markets director Patrick Fahn said the application was mostly complete. Hoberg will make a recommendation to the Public Service Commission. Fahn said the commission will make a final decision in the near future. "The company presented its case well," Fahn said.
Source: The Dickinson Press |
Oil boom fuels sales tax boom
Tax Commissioner Cory Fong last week announced a $1 billion increase in taxable sales and purchases during the second quarter of 2011 -- a "remarkable" increase of 32 percent, statewide.
Much of that increase was fueled by a vigorous oil industry in the northwestern corner of the state.
Tioga saw an increase of 107 percent, while Crosby was up 68 percent. Ray recorded a whopping increase of 426 percent.
"Even with the onset of statewide historic flooding during the second quarter, North Dakota's economy continued to grow and consumer confidence remained strong, bucking the national trend of lackluster consumer spending."
Of the 50 largest cities, the biggest percentage increases for the second quarter of 2011 included Stanley, up 114.1 percent; Williston, up 75.2 percent; and Watford City, up 66.9 percent. Counties with the highest percentage increases were Sioux, up 410.8 percent; Mountrail, up 109.2 percent; Burke, up 88.7 percent; Williams, up 81.6 percent; and McKenzie, up 64.3 percent. Though the mining and oil extraction sector was up 83.1 percent, the biggest dollar increase was in the wholesale trade sector, which goes hand in hand with increases in the taxable purchases end of the spectrum -- such as purchases of consumables by businesses -- rather than consumers patronizing retail stores. That was especially true in Burke County, for instance, where the dollar amount of taxable purchases was more than three times the amount of taxable sales. By contrast, in Williams and Divide counties, taxable purchases made up a much smaller percentage of the total -- about one fourth in Williams, and in Divide, less than one percent. "North Dakota remains in a healthy growth cycle. We are the bright spot in the nation in terms of economic growth coupled with the nation's lowest unemployment rate and strong building sector," said Fong. "We are cautiously looking ahead to the third and fourth quarter reports which will more accurately reflect the effect of the statewide flooding and the impact of excessive moisture on our farmers and ranchers."
Source: Crosby Journal |
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