BISMARCK - In a meeting of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) at the capitol on Monday, citizens from around the state gathered to address the issue of extraterritorial zoning. The discussion on ET zoning had nothing to do with aliens invading, but several attendees had concerns about private property rights being invaded.

Extraterritorial zoning is the authority given to cities by the state to have zoning power beyond the city limits. It was in 1970s the first piece of ET zoning legislation was passed.

BISMARCK - The lines were drawn before the meeting ever began.

The Burleigh County Commission's public hearing on its comprehensive plan drew quite a crowd Monday night. Dozens of people were in attendance to give and listen to the testimony spoken before the commission.

On one side of the room sat public employees and representatives of business in support of the plan, who stand to potentially gain from land acquisition opportunities and more tax revenue. On the other sat landowners with concerns of their rights being infringed upon by the plan.

After opening comments from the chairman of the planning commission Chuck Peterson and city and county planner Carl Hokenstad about the history and structure of the plan, the debate began.

ND Branded Beef Inc. is one of those companies you can't help but fall in love with. The owners are from North Dakota; they raise cattle in North Dakota; they process their cattle in North Dakota; they sell their products in North Dakota. In fact, they received the first ever Pride of Dakota Retailer of the Year award. Examples such as these are held up as ways that the state can help entrepreneurs develop and grow their businesses in rural North Dakota.

MINOT – If you can’t fulfill an agreement in Minot, apparently it’s no big deal.

Earlier this month, the city council approved a change in terms of an agreement with the Manhattan-based company, InfoTech.

In 2007, InfoTech received $400,000 from the city – half in the form of a grant and the other half in the form of a forgivable loan. The funds came from the Minot Area Growth by Investment and Cooperation (MAGIC) Fund, which is money collected from the city sales tax.

Video Report

This is the fourth item in the series by the North Dakota Policy Council examining the situation.

Jacqueline Dotzenrod is an investigative reporter for the NDPC. She can be reached at (701)640-9847 or Jacqueline@policynd.org.

“It’s going to take some time to decipher what’s in here,” city and county commissioner Doug Schoenert said. “The comprehensive plan, is supposed to be a guideline that can be changed as you go but that guideline, once it’s in place, that plan becomes the guideline only until it gets down to something serious and all of a sudden it becomes the gospel.”

GRAFTON – Despite what appears to be a generous offer, Marvin Windows and Doors in Grafton gives back far less that what it has gotten from the community of Grafton by any measure that makes “cents.”

Grow Grafton is a housing initiative to encourage new construction within the community. It was established in 2007 when Marvin Windows and Doors set aside $500,000 to establish a community growth fund for Grafton. The money from the fund is given to new residents. If you build a new home in town, you receive $20,000 or if you move a house onto an empty lot within the city limits, you are given $10,000.

About $350,000 has been spent from the fund, according to Grafton City Administrator Mylo Einarson.

There is an uncanny correlation between how much Marvin Windows and Doors collects from the city of Grafton in the form of a labor subsidy and how much the city collects in property tax revenue – both about $500,000.

When the multi-million dollar company moved into Grafton about 10 years ago, the company received strong tax benefits as well as a payment from the city of $1,000 per employee, up to 500 employees.

Marvin Windows and Doors, a family-owned company based in Warroad, Minn., built the Grafton facility in 1997. The Grafton factory’s machines and processes are similar to those in Warroad, but everything is in one 256,000 square foot building.

There seems to be a lot of great things about the Cass County half-cent sales tax proposed by the Greater Fargo-Moorhead Economic Development Corporation.

If you’re a resident of Fargo, you’ve read the stories and have seen the billboards and commercials. The highly-publicized measure will be voted on tomorrow, but before you cast your ballot, realize there is one detail yet to be publicized.

“I don’t think they’ve given people enough examples of how it will be used,” West Fargo Mayor Rich Mattern said. “It’s hard to wrap their arms around it when you don’t know how the money will actually be used. It’s just my opinion, but there’s too many generalities.”