Power Fuels Building Permanent Housing for 1,000 ~ $12.3M Grant Focuses Watford City on Land Use & Planning (9/28/2011)

Power Fuels to Build Housing for 1,000 People Neal A. Shipman ~ McKenzie County Farmer ~ Wednesday, 9/28/2011

Power Fuels Housing Development in Watford City (photo: McKenzie County Farmer, 9/28/2011)



“If you build it, they will come” has become the mantra for Mark Johnsrud, president of Power Fuels. The key words for Johnsrud, of course, being “it” meaning housing and “they” meaning workers. Like so many other area businesses who have not been able to hire or retain employees because of the shortage of housing in the Watford City area, Johnsrud has decided that it is time for him to take matters into its own hands and come up with a housing plan to meet the needs of his company. And what a plan it is! According to Johnsrud, Power Fuels has finalized plans that will include six 42-unit apartments, 54 patio homes, 40 twin homes, 110 single family homes, as well as five commercial buildings on land that the company has purchased to the west of the McKenzie County Courthouse. "The goal is to have four of the apartment buildings done this year," stated Johnsrud. "In addition, work has started on the construction of the patio homes." The first three apartment buildings, according to Johnsrud, will be used exclusively to provide housing for his employees. "In order for us, as a company to take care of our customers’ needs in the future, we needed to be able to offer affordable, quality housing to our employees." And Johnsrud’s plans to build a 1,000-person community in Watford City has city officials excited. "The northwest edge of Watford City is experiencing a radical facelift with the scope and speed of the development that is unmatched in this part of the Bakken epicenter," states Brent Sanford, Watford City mayor. "One could argue that this development is unmatched anywhere in the Bakken play." Sanford credits the speed by which Johnsrud’s project is moving forward to the fact that it is being led by local, private investment. "The impressive scope of the project is due to the success of the public-private partnership that has developed over the last year between the public entities, such as the McKenzie County Commission, the City of Watford City, the Roughrider Fund and the McKenzie County Job Development Authority (JDA), and the private entities, like Power Fuels and Meridian Contracting," states Sanford. "This is exactly what the community needs - quality permanent housing," states Gene Veeder, executive director of the McKenzie County JDA. "We are in a position to attract private investment from North Dakota companies to get this development on a fast track. People who have been working here and living in temporary housing are ready to bring families. This development will have options for rental property and affordable twin homes, patio homes and single family homes for purchase. I think this is the critical next phase to assure we have housing options for people intending to make Watford City home for a long time."

$12.3 million infrastructure grant opens land for development

According to Sanford, the city recognized that in order for the community to provide more housing opportunities within the city limits, the county commission, the city council and the JDA hired AE2s to develop a plan to address what the city would need in the way of new infrastructure improvements. "Out of this study came an infrastructure plan that was presented to the Legislature which resulted in a $12.3 million grant to extend Watford City’s water and sewer services into the new expansion areas around the city," stated Sanford. "The plan also identified the need for the city to enforce extraterritorial zoning one mile out of the city into the unzoned adjoining county area and the need to develop a land use plan for the one mile extraterritorial zoning area in anticipation of new areas being annexed into the city. "The city has used the grant to begin sewer and water improvement and expansion projects into newly-annexed areas," states Sanford. "And the city has used the extraterritorial zoning authority and the land use planning document to preserve the immediately adjoining county areas for the desired types of permanent tax-base building projects, such as the project currently under construction for Power Fuels by Meridian Contracting."

Power Fuels has a history of providing employee housing

As one of the major trucking firms serving the oilfield in northwestern North Dakota, Power Fuels is no stranger to struggling with the need to provide housing for its employees. According to Johnsrud, in order to hire and retain employees, in 2007 Power Fuels purchased a trailer court south of Watford City that had been unused for 25 years since the last oil boom and purchased new single-wide manufactured homes for their employees and families. Providing housing, according to Johnsrud, was not only a key component when it came to recruiting new employees, but also retaining them. “We could get the drivers and workers to come here,” stated Johnsrud. “But we couldn’t keep them because their wives and children lived somewhere else. By providing our employees with the opportunity to have quality, affordable housing we’re going to be able to bring an entire family to the community.” And that, according to Johnsrud, is a win-win situation. “We are offering our employees the ability to transition into home ownership in Watford City,” states Johnsrud. “They can start off by renting an affordable apartment and start saving. And once they have saved some money, they can afford to purchase a single family home.”

Development turns into a success story for Watford City

“This success story of cooperation allows all participants to win,” states Sanford. “The new residents of Watford City gain a nice, new, affordable, permanent home to bring their family to. And Power Fuels and the other companies taking part in the development gain a happy, stable employee.” And while Power Fuels’ housing project is a big step toward ensuring their continued growth, Sanford also notes that the new housing project will also have tremendous positive impacts for the community. “Not only will the city and the county gain a permanent tax base in the form of a mixture of new housing types and new office buildings,” states Sanford, “but the area’s retail, government, healthcare and service sectors will also gain much needed potential employees in the family members of the new energy employees who are now able to move into town.” “We are extremely pleased that Power Fuels has shown faith in this community and this business environment to invest so heavily in permanent affordable housing and permanent office buildings,” states Sanford. “We hope that with Power Fuels’ lead this will signal the beginning of the end for the high dollar extended stay man-camps and rental price gouging. We hope that this project’s success will spur more permanent affordable housing construction and that the housing supply can soon come back in line with demand.”

Williston Garden Apartments to Offer 145 Units by June 2012 (9/13/2011)

New details released on apartments: New complex to have 145 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments
Lynn Napton ~ Williston Herald ~ Tues. Sept. 13, 2011, 11:13 AM

A new apartment complex is being built in Williston, and construction should be finished within a year, officials said this week.

Investors Real Estate Trust [(IRET)], in partnership with Brutger Equities, has begun construction of the Williston Garden Apartments, which will have 145 apartments. Construction on the complex began in mid-August and is expected to be completed by spring 2012.

Located on 42nd St. E., Williston Garden Apartments will be comprised of four buildings, featuring one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

There will also be an on-site fitness facility and community building.

"It is exciting to be involved in what is shaping up to be the largest oil and gas discovery in the country and at the same time help address the severe housing shortage that exists in western North Dakota. Our commitment is to develop a quality product that will fit well with the community," Chief Operating Officer for IRET Thomas Wentz Jr. said.

The first apartment building is scheduled to open next March, and all four apartment buildings will be complete by June, according to IRET.

"We have not set rents yet, but they will most likely be what are called 'market rent' rates—comparative amounts for the market based on many factors including the building and its amenities," the company said in an e-mail to the Williston Herald.

Additional leasing information for Williston Garden Apartments can be found at www.brutgerequities.com.

The project is a joint venture between Brutger Equities of St. Cloud, Minn., who will handle daily management and leasing of the community, and Investors Real Estate Trust of Minot.

Lumber One, of St. Cloud, Minn., is also involved in the construction process.

During the permitting process, the apartment complex was opposed by neighbors who were concerned about the increased traffic that will come.

Williston Herald ~ Copyright 2011
Originally published @ on 9/13/2011

Bakken Buzz notes:
Some comments posted with original article (listed below) note the area described is not within the Williston city limits at the time of publication. Being harassed by "Mexican truck drivers," trucks on the street/in the area "when they aren't supposed to be," the developers not keeping promises such as keeping the trees that were on the lot as a buffer, and a fear of city annexation and the end of "country living" are noted as citizen complaints and concerns. Others draw a connection with projects such as this and the man-camp issue, some suggesting they are wrongly "forcing" residents of temporary housing to rent or buy for purposes of taxation or other financial gain, while others encourage the development of apartment complexes and residential homes to deal with mounting man camp problems and concerns, as well as to reduce ridiculously high rental rates and real estate purchases prices.

Watford City Issues Moratorium on Man Camps (8/24/2011)

City Council Says "No More" to Man Camps
Kate Ruggles ~ McKenzie County Farmer (Watford City, McKenzie County, ND) ~ Wednesday, 8/24/2011

There won’t be any more temporary work force housing units going up within the city of Watford City or within the one-mile Extraterritorial Zoning Area (ETA).

The Watford City City Council, at a special meeting on Aug. 9, said that enough is enough when it comes to temporary work force housing and that it would not allow any new units to be erected within the area that it controls.

The sheer volume of requests for temporary work force housing has been causing the city council concern for some time. And, now that the city has received a $12.3 million impact grant to make infrastructure improvements into the ETA, the city council says that now is the time to quit issuing conditional use permits for new work force housing.

"We felt that it would be very negligent to spend this grant money toward new infrastructure improvements only to fill every available piece of land in the city and ETA with temporary work force housing," states Brent Sanford, Watford City mayor.

According to Sanford, the number of crew camp requests was enough to take up every piece of available, undeveloped land within the city and in the ETA.

"Our hope is that this decision will make permanent developments, not temporary ones, more desirable for builders," says Sanford.

As a result of the city council’s actions last Tuesday, only temporary work force housing developments that have already been approved will be allowed to continue, including the 5,000-square foot temporary housing development in the ETA.

The city’s decision hasn’t made the need for temporary housing, or the requests disappear. It has, instead, forced oil companies to build outside of the ETA.

"It’s not desirable," says Sanford. "But we had to do what is best for the city and the ETA."

Sanford and the city council feel that it is important to invest in permanent developments, to protect Watford City now and for the future.

"Hopefully, this move will help swing the pendulum away from temporary to permanent housing by further limiting the easier temporary option," states Sanford. "This was an important decision point for the area immediately around Watford City for years to come."