Updating your Zoning Ordinance in the Middle of Chaos

By Donna Bye, Houston Engineering, Inc. / Western Planner Board - North Dakota

It Started in 2010

Local elected leaders of Minot, North Dakota made the decision to financially support a much-needed update to the city’s comprehensive plan and zoning ordinance. This guiding document and our land use code were both virtually untouched for three decades. There were small amendments and adjustments adopted over the years, but substantially, they were irrelevant and way behind the times of present-day needs. Many communities like Minot seem to stay in a holding pattern: seasons change, talk of crops cycles with the weather, community events come and go, and the small-city lifestyle seems to be perpetually preserved. However, things were changing in Minot. 

The 2008 Great Recession saw the fall of economic conditions around this same time. A majority of the United States was struggling with job loss, housing and market crashes, and virtually all things were tough. However, unknown to most North Dakota residents, the economy in the Northern Great Plains was about to skyrocket.

Long Days and Brutal Winters

The context for this is in our beloved and infamous North Dakota. North Dakota has some of the most gorgeous summers. The sun sets in June at almost 10 p.m. affording this place long days of sunshine and outdoor enjoyment. However, North Dakota might be more well known for its harsh winters, with subzero days that fold into weeks at times.  We have four very distinct seasons in this part of the country, but they certainly aren’t all the same length.  These harsh winters and sometimes very hot dry summers can cause agriculture—one of our main industries—to suffer significantly at both the livestock and commodities markets. The land and what can grow on it varies around the state. One bad hailstorm can wipe out an entire year’s profits.

Minot’s Population and Opportunities – Early 2000s

Let us discuss population for a moment. North Dakota and more specifically Minot had been experiencing out migration so significant a statewide effort was made to keep youth at home. North Dakota’s youth were encouraged to remain in state for both their college education and as a workforce after they graduated. A significant discussion was occurring across the state on how to reverse this trend and keep our youth at home, especially since the rest of the nation did not offer any better opportunities during the Great Recession. 

The Bakken Becomes Accessible

Enter the Bakken and all the benefits and impacts that go with an oil boom. 1800 feet below the surface, this little anomaly known as the Bakken was going to surface to save the North Dakota economy. The Bakken Formation, discovered in 1951 on Henry Bakken’s North Dakota farm, had not been recoverable until hydraulic fracking and directional drilling were invented. The Bakken Formation and the oil produced suddenly became the hottest commodity in the entire United States. Companies, opportunities and people began to flock to western North Dakota in hopes of good jobs, new lives, and better opportunities for their families.  

Planning Before and After the Bakken Boom

The population was pretty stagnant for about six decades until this Bakken Boom in the mid 2000’s.  I started my position as city planner in 2001 with just a few items on each month’s planning commission agenda. At the height of the boom, we were holding meetings until almost midnight and approaching at times, forty items per agenda. We were busy.  

Oil Boom Impacts

The oil boom occurring in the western half of the state caused immediate housing shortages. When workers couldn’t find housing in one town, they went to the next town, and the next town and so on. The housing shortage was so bad at one point, people were living in campers on farmsteads instead of approved locations with full utilities. This state-wide crisis caused communities to recognize updated ordinances were needed to regulate and support this newfound population of workforce employees.

Developers from all over the country started arriving in North Dakota—not just in one community but many—followed by the construction industry and the list goes on.  Hotels even got into the game as most of them were full of workers. No one could hold events like weddings, conferences, or banquets. The school districts also struggled with events because teams and families had nowhere to stay. The campgrounds couldn’t even accommodate family camping because they were full. 

What Did The Public Think?

Public input was key to understanding how the community wanted to handle this newfound wealth and associated development of new housing, schools, roads and other services to support and provide a quality of life most of us were used to.  More people meant more opportunities for locals in both their own careers and in their businesses. But economic successes came with contention. Many of these migrants were forced to ‘bunk-up’ and the residents did not like the mass accumulation of people in neighborhoods, campgrounds and apartments.  Enforcement efforts were doubled in order to handle the complaints and monitor what truly was needed in an ordinance update.  

Weather is Part of this Story Too

Recall the harsh winters I mentioned earlier? Despite the Boom, winter impacted the construction, housing and other infrastructure. Construction usually only occurs during the 6-8 months of good weather unless the construction site is enclosed and heated. The temporary housing from recreational vehicles (RV) were no match for the subzero temperatures. Those attempting to live in RV’s through North Dakota’s winter usually chose to leave or if lucky, found more accommodating housing.  

The Perfect Storm of Record Snow and Record Rainfall

And BOOM, it was June 2011. All over North Dakota received a record winter snowfall, with many communities receiving close to 100 inches. It was predicted the watersheds to the north were about to get rainfall like they have not seen in years.  

Minot sits in the North Central portion of North Dakota where the Mouse or Souris River flows out of Canada through Minot and back into Canada.  In April 2011, a slow snowfall melt accompanied by a very wet spring produced a flood of mammoth proportions the likes the area hadn’t seen in years. The Flood of 2011 gripped Minot in a nightmare we still talk about.  A flood stage in Minot was typically contained inside a levee system capable of holding back about 5,000cfs. The height of the Minot’s levee system was determined during the last major flooding events of the 1970’s.  By June 2011 over 27,00cfs had flowed through this river system disrupting thousands of people and properties.

The Perfect Storm was a Nightmare

They like to call it a perfect storm.  It truly was a nightmare, with half the community struggling, the other half booming.  Over 12,000 found themselves homeless with nowhere to go.  But this community stepped up. In the wake, we relaxed some ordinances and regulations just to survive.  We held our breath and walked through a very tough time in order to be successful.  This event was truly life changing with a humongous lesson on the other side.  

Issues to Resolve

The flood created messes throughout Minot. It was going to be costly to clean up. City staff hoped the people would see that it was in the best interest of everyone to clean up their properties and become whole again after the disaster.  It was not an event anyone can easily prepare for, and we hadn’t.  There was no playbook and no answers to the questions being asked of the public employees trying to navigate this new emergency response and cleanup ‘job description.’ 

Sometimes Its Better to Pause and Reassess the Issues amid Current Events

Minot city staff had been singularly focused on completing the update to our comprehensive plan and zoning code when the Perfect Storm hit. We quickly realized a transition to restoring our community needed to come first. So, we put a pause on the ordinance updates for a few months. When we resurfaced, we realized the ordinances had to be changed in order to accommodate this new-found growth and economic situation. Changes needed to include density amendments, allowance of accessory dwelling units, and other entitlements that would allow for increased housing. Land prices had skyrocketed up from land grabs. Density allowances were adjusted, along with minimum lot sizes to gain more housing and accessory dwelling units were now part of the ordinance instead of just an application in a three-ring binder.  

Conclusion

It took a greater effort from our staff and hired consultants to assist in this effort and see this project through. However, in the end, it made an ordinance that is better because of the tough trials that occurred smack dab in the middle of the update. These helped our community create a direction for new development that will support our community well into the future.

About the Author

Donna Bye served as City Planner for the City of Minot, ND, for over 15 years before joining Houston Engineering, Inc. in 2017 in her current role as a planner. Her past work in disaster relief and community planning resulted in funding and grant awards totaling in millions of dollars. Donna also held a unique role with the City of Minot, as she was the first individual to hold the title of Chief Resilience Officer, helping entities better understand how their actions affected their communities. She was part of the efforts that won the city $74.3 million dollars in the National Disaster Resilience competition. Her degrees in landscape architecture and environmental design provide her with a unique perspective on community and garden projects. She currently holds seats on the International Peace Garden Board, the North Dakota Planners Association, and the Western Planner Board, as well as the State of North Dakota’s Beneficial Use Recycling Group. She is married to her high school sweetheart, has two children and one dog, and enjoys, biking, golfing, snowshoeing and gardening.