Jill Schramm/MDN Developer John Coughlin speaks to the Minot City Council Monday.

By a slim 4-3 vote margin, Minot City Council members overrode safety concerns of its engineering staff in approving a developer’s request for access off 13th Street Southeast for a proposed fuel station.

The developer for Holiday Station Stores/Circle K appealed a stipulation in the project approval recommended by the Minot Planning Commission that denied a right-hand turn lane off 13th Street.

The proposed project consists of a gas station, convenience store, car wash and diesel truck island located in the southwest quadrant of U.S. Highway 2 & 52 and 13th Street Southeast.

Engineering Department staff recommended access to the fuel station come off 21st Avenue to avoid the heavy traffic on 13th Street. The department found the right turn lane proposed by Holiday/Circle K at its driveway to create a sight distance issue for traffic at 21st Avenue.

The proposed access point is about 100 feet from the intersection of 21st Avenue, City Engineer Lance Meyer told the council. Drivers on 13th Street are preparing for that intersection and watching for other drivers and that can lead to driver error and loss of safety, he explained. Additionally, he said 13th Street has a steep grade, creating sight distance issues. The access is near the 13th Street and U.S. Highway 2 & 52 intersection, ranked as the 25th worst intersection for crashes in the state.

“There’s 6,500 cars a day that travel on 13th Street. It’s one of the city’s busiest corridors,” Meyer said. “We’re trying to protect this intersection, the corridor, for future public improvements that need to be made on this roadway.”

Developer John Coughlin, a partner with Jim Myers in Meadowlark Holdings, said Holiday Station Stores/Circle K and its nationally recognized, expert traffic engineers designed the dedicated, southbound, right-in only access as the best and safest solution.

He challenged the data used by the city in reaching its conclusions during what became a lengthy discussion for the council on the subject.

Refusing 13th Street access nullifies the entire project, Coughlin said. He said an investment of more than $15 million likely would not happen and $400,000 a year in tax revenue would be lost.

“We’re just asking for the ability to help grow this town through development,” he said.

“We can approve this, and we agree that we want this development to happen. It’s good for Minot,” City Manager Harold Stewart said. “But if accidents increase there, the public is going to think less of the city because we’re more interested in revenue and growth than we were in the safety of the public. Or, the city can take the position that our engineer has taken tonight and advocate for safety, and then we get accused of being unfriendly to development. Ultimately, staff is looking for a balance.”

Council member Mike Blessum, who moved to uphold the appeal, voiced frustration that the city faces one choice, either yes or no, and no would mean the development is gone.

“I tried to bring additional options. I tried to look at, ‘Can we get something that would satisfy both parties?’ I think we got the answer to that from both sides. Neither one seemed to be all that interested in heading down that path,” Blessum said. “I’m giving us the option to side with the development, and we’ll vote our conscience on that.”

“I don’t understand how we as a city can keep turning away big, major corporations that want to come to our city,” council member Rob Fuller said. “We’re talking about having to fix that road up on North Hill now, where the school is, and if we’d let Walmart come to town, that road would be fixed and everything would be fine up there. So, here we are again, about to make a decision which will impact things and hurt our city if we don’t allow it.

“The best choice is to allow this development to go forward with the right-in turn lane, so that it at least brings something to the city rather than just watching another major corporation walk away from us,” he said.

Council member Lisa Olson acknowledged the differing opinions from engineers on the street situation.

“We are just faced with a very difficult decision,” she said. “I’m leaning toward allowing that entrance in, because I think the true problem is our problem, and I think that’s the 21st Avenue intersection. I think that’s what we need to be dealing with, not getting in the way of development but looking at the issue that really does belong to us and trying to fix that.”

Council member Paul Pitner said he would love to see the investment but it needs to be done with Minot in mind.

“Safest and best might be now, but I don’t know if it’s going to be the safest and best 10, 15, 20 years down the road,” he said.

Mayor Tom Ross said if the council approves the 13th Street access and a serious or fatal crash results, the blame won’t fall on the developer or the fuel station company.

“The blood’s going to be on our hands. And that concerns me,” Ross said. “One hundred percent of the time, I will always side with public safety over the almighty dollar.”

Voting in favor of the 13th Street access were Blessum, Fuller, Olson and Scott Samuelson. Voting against were Ross, Pitner and Mark Jantzer.