City resolves Fargo townhome dispute with Roers construction

FARGO (KVRR-KFGO) – It appears the months-long squabble over the Roosevelt neighborhood townhome project in north Fargo has been resolved.

The city has negotiated a final settlement with Roers Construction that will allow the building of seven townhomes that were supposed to be completed by the end of last year.

It’s part of the Newman Center Project near the NDSU campus.

Roers was found in default of the developers agreement when the company missed the deadline.

Mayor Tim Mahoney says the settlement is contingent on the approval of a final written settlement that will be considered at the next city commission meeting.

“Roers has applied for a permit right now and we’re running the process through,” Mahoney said. “He may be starting to dig the foundation as early as next week. So, we’re excited. We’re moving as fast as we can to get him going forward.”

Company president Jim Roers had asked for more time to complete the project. He blamed the delay on supply issues and higher costs due to the pandemic. He was heavily criticized for the delay by some city commissioners.

It also became an issue in the mayor’s race. Roers’ daughter, Shannon Roers-Jones, was a candidate for mayor.

Mahoney says the city is also taking steps to keep better track of such projects in the future.

“We have hundreds of contracts with contractors throughout the city for a variety of different issues,” Mahoney said.

“It just woke up our staff a little bit that we have to get a little bit vigilant to make sure that doesn’t happen in the future. So, if you know something’s going to be a problem, we need to tee it up. I think going forward, we have a good plan on how to monitor this and I don’t think you’ll see this happen in the future.”