JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown City Council approved 4-0 a purchase of BNSF Railway property for a project that includes pavement reconstruction on 12th Avenue Southeast and realigning a road.
Councilman Dan Buchanan was absent from the special meeting on Thursday, Feb. 23.
The purchase of the BNSF property will be paid from the general and municipal infrastructure funds. City Attorney Leo Ryan is directed to review the purchase and negotiate the documents and sale, and Mayor Dwaine Heinrich and City Administrator Sarah Hellekson are authorized to sign the documents.
The project, recommended by the Jamestown City Council in June 2022, includes pavement reconstruction on 12th Avenue Southeast and realigning the road to the intersection of 11th Avenue and 4th Street Southeast.
The property is located between 3rd Street and 5th Street Southeast and 11th Avenue and 12th Avenue Southeast.
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Heinrich said the purchase price is $145,000, but the exact final dollar amount is unknown because of additional costs such as a $2,500 processing fee and other expenses.
“Certainly the intent is that once the road is constructed that the extra property would be developed and the city would recoup that money that would go back into the general fund and hopefully a little extra than what is spent,” he said.
Heinrich previously said getting the project complete will hopefully open the rest of the property between 3rd and 5th Street Southeast and 11th Avenue and 12th Avenue Southeast for development.
The city of Jamestown, in cooperation with the North Dakota Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration, is proposing roadway improvements to 12th Avenue Southeast from 3rd Street to 6th Street Southeast. The proposed project consists of reconstructing 12th Avenue Southeast from 3rd to 6th Street Southeast with a realignment between 3rd and 5th Street Southeast.
A new road would be created at the intersection of 12th and 5th Street Southeast that would curve northwest toward the intersection of 11th Avenue and 4th Street Southeast. The project includes paving 12th Avenue Southeast from 5th to 6th Street Southeast and building a cul-de-sac road for access to an electrical business along 12th Avenue Southeast and the city water department’s water tank and station.
The purpose of the project is to correct the structural integrity of the roadway, improve traffic flows from northeast to southeast Jamestown and minimize safety risks at the existing BNSF railroad quiet zone crossing. When complete, it would prevent motorists from turning onto 12th Avenue Southeast near the railroad tracks.
“I think it’s something that we’ve been trying to accomplish for a number of years,” Heinrich said.
The estimated cost of the project is more than $1.1 million with the city’s share being $223,000, The Sun reported in June. Eighty percent of the project’s cost would be paid by federal and state funds while the local share would be 20%.
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In other business, the City Council approved 4-0 to authorize Heinrich and Hellekson to sign an amendment to the memorandum of agreement between Stutsman County and the city of Jamestown to provide joint library services, extending by one year the date either entity may provide a notice of intent to withdraw to March 3, 2024.
The Stutsman County Commission approved the one-year extension to the memorandum of agreement earlier this month.
If neither entity provides a notice of intent to withdraw, the agreement would automatically be extended for another five years.
The city of Jamestown and Stutsman County have provided joint library services under a memorandum of agreement after voters approved a measure in 2008 to combine them.
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