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Gathering place debated at town hall

City outlines NDR program status at public meeting

Jill Schramm/MDN Pat Ryan speaks about a proposed downtown gathering place at Thursday’s town hall meeting at Washington Elementary School.

Whether Minot should continue pursuit of a downtown gathering space was debated during a discussion on Minot’s National Disaster Resilience Program during a town hall meeting at Washington Elementary Thursday.

Minot City Council members came to the defense of the project when questioned about waning public support.

“If we would take half of that money, which would be $3 million, and put it toward the new technical school, I submit to you that we would really have a great gathering place there,” resident Pat Ryan said.

City Manager Tom Barry acknowledged community frustration over a project that’s suffered delays over property acquisition negotiations and has faced challenges tied to federal rules. He called an informal newspaper poll – showing more than 60% of respondents want to scrap the project – good to know.

“But it’s not going to dissuade us from making progress and achieving the commitments that we made to the whole community and to HUD,” he said.

Jill Schramm/MDN Minot State University President Steve Shirley talks about a career and technology center proposed as part of the city’s National Disaster Resilience Program during a town hall meeting Thursday.

Council member Lisa Olson conceded the gathering place won’t appeal to the majority after one resident suggested only 10% of residents might use it. However, she also noted only a small percentage will use affordable housing, a career and technical center or other projects that are part of the resilience program.

“But when we look communitywide, we see there are pockets of the community that can really benefit from these dollars,” she said. “I am hoping when we look at these things, we look communitywide.”

Council member Josh Wolsky argued for the quality-of-life benefits associated with a gathering place.

“I believe firmly that it is projects like the gathering space that will attract people,” he said. “This is a model that has worked in other places and I believe it can, and it will, work here.”

“It has the potential to be kind of a legacy for this generation,” council member Paul Pitner said. “It can bring energy to downtown. It can bring energy to our community.”

Jill Schramm/MDN Roy and Leana Leavitt look at a buyout map that was among National Disaster Resilience information stations at a town hall meeting in Washington Elementary Thursday.

Council member Stephan Podrygula stressed the importance of keeping city promises.

“I think people should be keeping their promises. This was a promise that we made,” he said of the gathering place.

Resident Clyde Thorne, a past president of the downtown association, said a gathering place would be a plus economically for the downtown, which generates a lot of tax revenue for the city. He suggested it’s not just a gathering place but an events location.

Resilience program director John Zakian said the city sold the Department of Housing and Urban Development on the gathering place as a resilience project by stressing that other parks were under water during the flood, leaving the community without a central gathering point. A gathering place might not seem a need now when everything is going well, but in another catastrophic event, it would become important again, he said.

“What we need to do is invest this money – the $6 million for a gathering space – wisely, prudently and as effectively as possible to get a true benefit as a public facility. But we are hearing this criticism. We are taking it in, and we are going to try to demonstrate that, at the end of the day, we can get this project done, and it will be one that all of you are proud of,” Zakian said.

Minot has until Sept. 30, 2022, to spend the $74.3 million received in the National Disaster Resilience Competition in 2016. The money includes nearly $21 million to reduce flood risk, $43 million for affordable housing in resilient neighborhoods and $5.3 million for economic growth. Money not spent by the deadline must be returned to HUD.

Minot has spent 27% of the money so far, which is ahead of most other cities in the National Disaster Resilience Program. Money has gone to affordable housing projects such as assisting in development of Park South Apartments, property buyouts and mortgage assistance to aid flood victims in moving from the flood plain. The affordable housing initiative is looking at up to 410 units that could be created or preserved through new construction or rehabilitation.

Barry said HUD looks at Minot as a model for success in administering its resilience program to date.

“HUD does have such a high degree of confidence that they waived our audit this year,” he said. “They are feeling very good about what we are doing and how we are administering it.”

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