Jill Schramm/MDN Developer John Coughlin addresses the Minot Planning Council Wednesday regarding a proposed fuel station in southeast Minot.

Developers have locked horns with city engineers over access to a proposed fuel station along U.S. 2 & 52 in southeast Minot, putting the Minot Planning Commission in the middle Wednesday.

The commission approved the project presented by John Coughlin and Jim Myers of Meadowlark Holdings, but with a stipulation opposed by the developers that there be no access using 13th Street Southeast.

The development location is northwest of the intersection of 13th Street and 21st Avenue Southeast. Nearby businesses include health clinics and a tractor supply company. The intersection of 13th Street and 21st Avenue is a two-way stop, with unrestrained traffic on 13th Street.

The proposed Circle K requires a conditional use permit as a truck stop in a commercial zone. The station is defined by the city as a truck stop because of the multiple diesel fuel pumps and accommodations for semi trailer trucks.

A nearly identical fuel station project was approved for Meadowlark Holdings in April 2023, but it never advanced because of the restriction on 13th Street access.

Since then, additional traffic analysis has been conducted.

Coughlin said Meadowlark Holdings received the traffic impact study in June, which found 13th Street access is the safest and most efficient. That was the access insisted on by the Holiday company in 2023, now Circle K, he said.

“They felt that any other solution to the traffic other than the one that they proposed was incorrect,” Coughlin said. “We’re looking at a very high quality corporation that is looking to come to Minot. The site that they have selected and have agreed with me on, that is the highest and best use for that particular site.”

Coughlin said they hired an engineering firm to review the traffic impact study and were told the study is correct in determining access using 13th Street is the best plan.

City Engineer Lance Meyer said his department wants to see the development happen but cannot support 13th Street access.

“What we’re really talking about is safety,” he said. “We want this to be a successful project for them, but we have a responsibility as city staff for the 6,500 vehicles that travel every day on 13th Street. We’ve got to make sure those people are safe.”

He listed some intersection issues that included sight line problems and multiple decision making points for drivers.

“City staff isn’t going to be in favor of an access point on 13th Street, and it’s really because it’s violating these traffic principles that we hold dear because of the safety,” Meyer said. “That’s what all this revolves around for us.”

Korby Seward, Minot District engineer with the North Dakota Department of Transportation, supported city staff.

“The NDDOT is in opposition of this plan that was submitted. The intersection of Highway 2 and 13 is on our urban crash “high crash list.” it is number 25 in the entire state,” he said. It was explained the high ranking is in part due to the severity of three crashes that have occurred there.

Planning Commissioner Darrik Trudell questioned whether the crashes reflect function issues with the intersection. He noted one crash involved an emergency vehicle and another occurred during a time when temporary four-way stop signs were in place.

City traffic engineer Stephen Joersz responded every crash has a human element, and the characteristics of the crashes at 13th Street and the bypass indicate a hazard at that intersection.

Meyer said the difference between the findings of the developer’s engineers and the city’s engineering department is perspective. The traffic study focused on the intersection only, in trying to justify its use in the development, while the city’s engineers are looking at the traffic system of the area as a whole, he said.

The commission voted to keep the staff recommendation for no access via 13th Street, with the understanding that even if the commission and council allow the access, city engineers can deny it during the building permit stage. The developer would have 10 business days to appeal the engineering department’s administrative decision.

Rather than have the project go through that process, the commission kept the stipulation against 13th Street access for the city council to deal with.

“Obviously, this has been brewing for a year and a half and I want to be fair and respectful to the developer,” Commissioner Tim Baumann said. “If it’s not going to go, don’t go, rather than dragging it out for another month or two.”

Coughlin said Meadowlark Holdings has worked with Holiday/Circle K to keep them from abandoning the project, which again is in jeopardy due to how strongly the company feels about 13th Street access.

“I would say that they’re going to invest, would have invested, $20 million into this site by the time they’re done. It would also create jobs and also tax revenue,” Coughlin said. “It is economic development in itself.”