NDSU Housing Project Put on Hold in North Fargo

A proposed college apartment complex project in North Fargo has left homeowners with concerns.
 
They took their concerns to the city planning commission.

Homeowners are against a proposed zoning change to build the “Bison Village” apartment complex.

They want to make sure that their voice is heard.
 
Plans are in the works to build “Bison Village” on the empty property at 32nd Avenue North and University Drive.

It’s an apartment complex that will house more than 700 NDSU students, but people in the area say it’s not the right move.
 
“I don’t think it’s a good fit for the neighborhood. There is a need for single family homes, condos, those kind of stuff up in these older established neighborhoods,” said Thomas Lawrence of North Fargo.
 
Others like Thomas also say that traffic congestion is one of their biggest concerns.
 
“No matter how you slice it 10th Street is only going to get busier, and busier, and it’s already a busy street for a residential area. People aren’t going to want to raise their kids there,” said Thomas.
 
Larry Nygard, President of Roer’s Construction, who is developing the project, says those concerns have been heard.
 
“The biggest concern we’ve heard mostly is traffic. We have to find out exactly what that means, and if there is some ways our project can mitigate the impacts, and that’s one of thing were looking at right now,” said Nygard.
 
He says the company has hired a traffic expert who will examine the area and determine what changes can be made.
 
“We have some great plans in store for that neighborhood, and so were going to work through that with the planning commission and the neighborhood and come up with a solution that we hope works for everybody,” said Nygard.
 
At the meeting, the commission granted Roer’s an extension to see what results will come from the traffic study.

No action will be taken until next month’s city planning meeting.