Property Owners in Valley City Protesting Paving Dist. 131

VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – The following is a statement issued to i3G Media by property owners protesting the street improvement project. The group claims the reconstruction of the 10 city block project is excessive and should be half of the $9.8 million dollar estimate.

The group says, “After successfully protesting against Paving District 130 in January of this year, property owners are now organizing to protest the project once again.  The City of Valley City street improvement project now being presented as Paving District 131 with little to no changes after concerns about project costs were brought up to city officials. The project costs presented by the city’s engineers are running at just under $1 million per block when project costs in other cities in the state (based on bid tabulations available on QuestCDN) have been successfully bid and contracted for less than half the planned cost of the Valley City project.  City commissioners have repeatedly commented that this is irrelevant because those extra costs are being paid for by a grant from the state. The affected property owners are frustrated by the city’s unwillingness to work with them on how to lower the cost of the total project. Other property owners have said that it is unwise to spend almost $10 million on a street project given the condition and assessed values of buildings in the area. It is not a good business decision to spend more money on the streets than what the value of the buildings are according to the affected property owners.  The buildings need to be fixed before the streets and special assessment costs make it more difficult and costly to re-develop and re-purpose old buildings.  As presented in the city’s growth policy (or comp plan), construction costs in Valley City are historically higher than other cities.  One concerned property owner suggested that the city stop using North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) standards and specifications for all work being done in the community like they do in larger cities of the state, which rely on their own standards. It certainly makes it easier on the consultants to use NDDOT procedures when those grant programs are utilized; however, the street work is only a portion of the overall project and there are likely ways to save on construction costs by making the effort to do so.”