MINOT, N.D. (AP) - Moose Lodge officials said the group will continue to have a presence in Minot despite a proposed buyout for a floodwater storage area under the city’s national disaster program.
Administrator Mike Stenvold said he expects the lodge to remain open in its existing building for the foreseeable future because the facilities are used by a number of different community groups and are booked as far out as 2018, according to the Minot Daily News (https://bit.ly/2fjVdXx).
He said the lodge hasn’t made any plans yet because the buyout process is still in the initial stages. The city has meetings in early November with some neighborhoods that part of three proposed buyouts under the National Disaster Resilience Program.
Minot city finance director Cindy Hemphill said the city hopes to finish the buyouts as soon as possible but understands the Moose Lodge is a special case because members of the local fraternal order and the international organization would have to give approval.
Hemphill said using the lodge neighborhood for floodwater storage will get rid of the need for the levee improvements that the city planned through that area as part of the Mouse River Enhanced Flood Protection Project.
When the water storage area isn’t needed to hold back a flood, it would become greenway or park land. Existing amenities like playgrounds and sand volleyball, which Moose Lodge had previously donated land for, will probably change because permanent structures unable to survive a flood would not be permitted in the greenway.
Last January, the city was awarded a $74.3 grant for the national disaster program. The grant gave Minot six years to complete its program.
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Information from: Minot Daily News, https://www.minotdailynews.com
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