A request for $3.8 million to develop a water line in east Minot will go to the Minot City Council next month with the support of the MAGIC Fund Screening Committee.
The committee voted Friday to recommend the council approve a request from Minot Area Development Corp. to install about four miles of trunk water line to support the Port of North Dakota expansion. The port is expanding to 3,200 acres and is adding 45 miles of track.
MADC noted that extension of the water line will benefit all of eastern Minot by improving water supply and pressure and serving additional growth in the area. MADC also reported that the request meets its mission to create jobs, expand the local tax base, increase capital investment and expand the primary sector financial base.
The new water trunk line would run north on 55th Street Northeast to 30th Avenue and then west to 19th Street.
The screening committee also is recommending approval of a contract change requested by MADC and Alexander Co., an Idaho firm operating as Midwest Milling. The change would push back target dates for performance obligations, such as required employee numbers, by a year to reflect a delay in obtaining rail tracks for the facility in the agricultural park. The Port of North Dakota intends to construct a rail spur and ancillary tracks to serve Midwest Milling in 2013, rather than this year as originally planned.
The MAGIC Fund has committed a $200,000 grant to build the rail spur and a $150,000 interest-free loan to the Midwest Milling, which processes barley and oats. The contract requires the company to have nine full-time employee equivalents by 2015, which would become 2016 if the change is approved.