Planning for Future Growth | Video

Alex Hagan | 8/20/2012

Dickinson is now working with an engineering firm to come up with a comprehensive and transportation plan to address growing needs and concerns in the city.

"Probably the biggest problem to me is obviously the housing, the rent is so high. It`s hard to find a place anywhere," said resident Martene Reynoso.

But it`s not just the lack of housing becoming an issue.

"The growth here, there are certain times of the day when you could sit at an intersection now for 20 minutes. It feels like you`re kind of in Minneapolis at times trying to get to work," said resident Eric Halverson.

In response to these concerns, Dickinson city leaders are now working with Kadrmas, Lee and Jackson to come up with a comprehensive and transportation plan.

"These impacts hit us really hard and really fast and really hard, so we`re not done with the planning yet, but we certainly have gone through a lot of information that`s helped us make decisions along the way," said City Administrator Shawn Kessel.

Community planners working with the city will try to establish some strategies to combat the housing crunch.

"One strategy is to encourage the development of high quality mobile home subdivisions that does provide an affordable housing option," said Kadrmas, Lee and Jackson planner Scott Pickett.

Along with solutions to the traffic problems.

"Look at if they need different signage, do they need street lights, do they need left turn lanes and all those kinds of things are going to be considered. We`ve already done traffic counts for a great number of busier intersections," said Kessel.

And making sure quality of life in the city stays the same.

"They`re also concerned about the pace of growth and to what extent this rapid growth is going to change the character of the community," said Pickett.

For now, residents are satisfied with how the city is coping.

"I don`t think Dickinson was designed to have this many people living at, especially this quickly, so you know I think they will just be patient, everyone has to be patient. I think they will catch up," said Halverson.

There has been plenty of change in Dickinson and city leaders are trying to make that change go smoothly to keep current and future residents happy.

The plan will also consist of predicting population growth for the next ten years. This will give city leaders an estimate of how much building should take place. They plan to discuss this matter in early October.

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