In case you missed it in The Sun the week of April 17, 2023

The following stories from this week appeared on www.jamestownsun.com and in The Jamestown Sun.

The Jamestown City Council unanimously approved on Thursday, April 20, allowing the advertisement of bids for a new basketball court for the Jamestown Civic Center after the Jamestown Civic Center and Promotion Committee recommended approval on Tuesday, April 18.

The North Dakota High School Activities Association finalized its schedule where state basketball tournaments will be played. The Jamestown Civic Center will be the host site for the next two Class B girls basketball state tournaments.

If approved by the Jamestown City Council, the basketball court will be purchased with funds from the city sales tax fund.

The estimated cost for the new basketball floor is $175,000, The Sun reported in August. The current basketball floor has trade-in value that can help cover the cost of the new one. The new basketball court could also be paid from sponsorship advertising on the floor.

Slightly more building permits were issued in 2022 compared to 2021 with the city of Jamestown seeing an increase in commercial remodeling projects .

The city of Jamestown issued 83 building permits in 2022 compared to 75 in 2021. The 83 building permits issued in 2022 had a valuation of more than $45.1 million.

The city issued 26 building permits for commercial remodeling projects in 2022 compared to 12 in 2021. The 26 building permits for commercial remodeling projects had a combined value of more than $2.6 million. For other commercial projects, the city issued two building permits each for new buildings, storage and miscellaneous and four for additions.

The Stutsman County Commission unanimously approved on Tuesday, April 18, an emergency declaration for the county .

Andrew Kirking, Stutsman County emergency manager/911 coordinator, said he proposed the flood declaration “out of an abundance of caution.” He said he is receiving a lot of reports from townships about roads that are underwater that might need additional resources to get them into good condition.

“Maybe this will lead to a FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) declaration,” he said, referring to a Stutsman County emergency declaration. “I’m not quite sure, but I want to make sure that we have our bases covered here so that we can keep anything moving along as quick as we can.”

The Jamestown City Council unanimously approved on Thursday, April 20, the final plat of property to facilitate the reconstruction of 12th Avenue Southeast.

The final plat of the Harold P. Bensch Addition includes a replat of lots 1-12 and 97-108 of the Jones and Vennum Addition and a vacated portion of 4th Street Southeast. The proposed plat creates lots 1 and 2 on block 1 and lot 1 on block 2 of the Harold P. Bensch Addition.

The plat dedicates a right of way for 11th Avenue Southeast and a diagonal connection between 4th Street/11th Avenue Southeast and 12th Avenue Southeast, according to a report for the application of plat request.

The property is located between 3rd Street and 5th Street Southeast and 11th Avenue and 12th Avenue Southeast. The city of Jamestown purchased the property from BNSF Railway.

The planned 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.