Mike Nowatzki
The Forum - 02/27/2007

Property rights trumped public opposition Monday as Fargo city commissioners unanimously approved a senior housing complex that will eliminate part of a north Fargo neighborhood park.

Commissioners voted 5-0 in favor of a zoning change and plat that will allow the Fargo Housing and Redevelopment Authority to build a 39-unit senior housing complex just east of New Horizons Manor, 2525 Broadway.

The Housing Authority owns the south 2.5 acres of the 8.5-acre Friendship Park, but it has been treated as part of the park for more than 30 years. The Park District owns the north 6 acres.

Commissioner Linda Coates said the Housing Authority has a right to build on its land and has “bent over backward” to design the project to retain the playground equipment and other features of Friendship Park.

“There’s not one amenity that will be lost,” she said.

“I think they’ve gone and made this as palatable to the neighbors as they possible can,” Commissioner Brad Wimmer said.

Some opponents heckled the commissioners after the vote, with one woman telling Mayor Dennis Walaker, “Walaker, you’ll never get my vote again.”

Earlier, Walaker told the audience of about 75 people that it was going to be a difficult decision.

“I’ve never been lobbied harder … on any issue I’ve been involved in,” he said.

More than 100 people attended a Feb. 14 meeting during which the Planning Commission recommended approval of the zoning request.

Supporters said the site’s proximity to a clinic, pharmacy, retail, banking and churches make the site ideal.

“Nobody has come forward with a site that provides the amenities that this one does,” Walaker said.

Commissioners were provided with statistics from the 2004 North Dakota Housing Needs Assessment that projects the number of people age 65 and over in Fargo to increase by 91 percent between 2000 and 2015.

“It’s just kind of an avalanche of seniors coming at us that we need to provide housing for,” said Housing Authority Executive Director Lynn Fundingsland.

Deb Nordby, an opposition leader who lives on the south side of the park, said those who oppose the project have unfairly been portrayed as being against senior citizens.

“We have nothing against seniors,” she said. “We just want to keep that green space because north Fargo has no place to put a new one.”

Resident Mike Dirk said vacant commercial property in north Fargo would be a better site for the project. Fundingsland said that because the housing authority already owns the land, finding an alternative site as opponents have suggested would likely add $350,000 to $500,000 to the project cost.

“We don’t see it as a ‘save the park’ issue,” Fundingsland said. “We’re not threatening any park land.”

Project opponent Roger Finch said he was concerned about the safety of children, adding he’d be more comfortable if the age requirement for the senior housing was 62 instead of 55. Deb Tellinghuisen, crime-free programs coordinator for the Fargo Police Department, said the housing authority conducts background checks on all of its tenants and has been “very quick to act on tenants who are causing any problems.”

Brian Arett, executive director of the Fargo Senior Commission, said the proposed site will allow seniors to take advantage of the congregate dining site at New Horizons Manor.

“I feel it is a very important thing that you have these kinds of homes for us,” said Sophie Beutler, 92, who lives in the Lashkowitz High Rise in Fargo.

Commissioner Mike Williams said the housing authority has a right to build on its land and has been a good neighbor by allowing the land to be used as park land for so long.

Commissioner Tim Mahoney said he wondered if all of the options had been explored and suggested the commission delay its decision, but he made no formal motion to delay.

Opponents gathered more than 600 signatures in opposition. Because owners of at least 20 percent of the property within 300 feet of the site protested the zoning request, it required supermajority approval by four of the five city commissioners.