News: McKenzie County OKs Zoning

McKenzie County OKs Zoning

January 4, 2012

McKenzie County OKs zoning for first time ever
LAUREN DONOVAN | Bismarck Tribune BismarckTribune.com
Posted: Tuesday, January 3, 2012

LAUREN DONOVAN/Tribune It's estimated there are between 200 and 250 temporary housing sites, with an unknown number of beds, in McKenzie County. The county has no means of regulating their placement or requirements, but new zoning, approved to move forward Tuesday, will change that.

WATFORD CITY - In the boom reality of McKenzie County, there's good reason to believe the bucking horse is already out of the barn and there's no putting this one back.

But the McKenzie County Commission made history Tuesday when it put a bridle on development by moving to write and adopt the county's first-ever zoning ordinances.

The county is the only one in the oil patch without zoning and people here took some pride in the fact that no one could tell them how to use their own land.

But it appears those free-ranging bareback days are a thing of the past, given the tremendous pressure of oil development and the proliferation of small man camps, semi truck parking lots and service units set up entirely without regulation.

The commission held meetings around the county to get public reaction before voting Tuesday.

What they heard out there were some shouts of "We don't want zoning!" from the back of the meeting rooms and a whole lot more acknowledgement that the time for zoning - unfortunately, for those with a staunch legacy of independence - had come.

Gene Transtrom, of rural Arnegard, is perhaps a typical convert.

"We had a quiet and peaceful life and now it's gone," Transtrom said, describing himself as a "very conservative guy" who doesn't appreciate government involvement and wouldn't have been for zoning a few years ago.

Having seen a massive influx without the ordering influence of zoning, Transtrom said he's changed his mind about that.

"This is a good day for McKenzie County. We've been so sparsely populated, until now there's been no need for it. Now, I wish we'd started a little sooner," he said.

Gene Veeder, the county's longtime development director whose job has segued into the "point of contact" for the boom development, said he was proud of the county commission.

"That was a tough vote. It wasn't a no-brainer," Veeder said. The county had decided against zoning as recently as June after a first set of meetings, but the past half year has been unprecedented for growth.

He said the zoning will help the county make sure that new man camp housing, for example, meets basic requirements for sewer and water and its developers are bonded so they clean up the site when the housing is pulled out.

Veeder said it wasn't a "yippee" kind of day for the county and nor should anyone get the idea that development isn't wanted.

"I don't see this as the hammer going down, but now there'll be one go-to place to do business here," he said.

Commissioner Dale Patton said he's seen a lot of people, like Transtrom, change their minds about zoning.

Over the past couple of months, eight of the county's organized townships drafted their own zoning ordinances, making unzoned townships next door worry they'd get the all the impact. Patton said that changed some minds out in countryside.

That's what happened to McKenzie County, when other counties in the oil patch put moratoriums on more temporary housing until they could get a handle on infrastructure.

"We got hit pretty hard with those moratoriums in other counties. We did not have any choice," Veeder said.

Patton said it would have been easier to implement zoning two years ago before the recent big push for temporary housing and truck parking, especially proliferated along the helter-skelter Highway 85 corridor.

"I don't really know what's out there, but the county staff is getting a handle on it," he said.

Still, he said, "There are counties that did have zoning and they still have some problems," he said. "I think the community needs a say in how development takes place."

Deidre Berquist, McKenzie County tax director, said zoning should help ease an "out of control feeling" in the county.

Berquist is taking advantage of a fairly new state law that lets counties permit and place fees on skid units, modulars and self-contained housing, though RVs and mobile homes are still exempt because they're subject to a state license fee.

Berquist has the tough job of finding all the temporary housing sites - she estimates there are between 200 and 250 of them with an unknown total number of "beds" - and contacting their owners so she can start collecting a fee of $1.50 per square foot to help pay for emergency services and other county costs.

Her job will be easier when developers and private property owners have to come in to get zoning for such sites in the future.

"My goal is to know what in the heck is going on out there,"Berquist said.

The county's action creates a nine-person planning board that will draft zoning ordinances - likely with help from a regional development council - for the commission's approval. Tuesday's action also allows hiring a zoning coordinator and assistant. It's expected a zoning department will cost the county about $250,000, though the permit fees for temporary housing could be used to offset that.

Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 220-5511 or lauren@westriv.com.

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